


The last place on Earth they'll definitely be

by luna65



Category: Greta Van Fleet (Band)
Genre: AU Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Fae, Angst and Humor, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Gen, M/M, Magic, POV First Person, Sirens, The boys are rather amoral but they're magic, Upper Peninsula weirdness, because there is never enough, gratuitous Danny content, gratuitous snark, hijinks and histrionics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-06-29 06:59:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19824916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luna65/pseuds/luna65
Summary: (Fantasy AU) The members of Greta Van Fleet are magically delicious...maybe TOO delicious, in fact.  A private investigator who specializes in the supernatural ventures to their stomping grounds to find out just how enthralling theyreallyare...and gets more than she bargained for.





	1. A plague of Sirens

**Author's Note:**

> There's a long story behind this one but I see a lot of commentary in fandom about GVF being actual elves and such so I thought _Why not?!_ The OC is my own creation from an urban fantasy series I've been writing since 2014 and she's a smartass sensitive named Savannah Finch who is employed by other magical beings from time to time to look into various matters, like any PI would be. I think I know where I'm going with this one, but as I tend to envision this version of GVF as up to a lot of pansexual mischief I'm sort of afraid to post this in the wild, as it were. Mostly it's just that I enjoy UF and have developed a minor mania regarding the Upper Peninsula and its' weirdness...so here goes. And yes, the beginning contains a lot of gratuitous Danny content, but it will shift around to all of them, I promise. Also, I take some liberties with the geography of Michigan, for which I apologize and accept all responsibility.

“Once you cross that bridge, Savvy,” Sebastian warned me, “things are different.”

I knew from cloistered and close-knit communities, the way in which natives differed from tourists. Hell, I’m from New Orleans and we’re a whole other _world_ from the rest of the country. But everyone I spoke to about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, or “the Yoop” as it was sometimes referred to, made it seem like it was another _dimension_.

But cross that bridge I had to. A job’s a job.

I prefer to refer to myself as a private investigator, because using the term _detective_ seems far too official-like. I investigate matters concerning those beings in this world which move among us and keep to their own affairs, mostly. Demons, primarily. Demons are agents of chaos, and sometimes that chaos can be bad, or even Evil. But mostly it’s just that, throwing off the balance which those forces Above are counting on to maintain alignment of this reality. The age-old dance, doncha know. It’s not perfect, and it’s not simply defined (as there is just as much bad above as might be good below), but the world wibbles and warbles and shifts and shimmers when things aren’t Right.

And sometimes I get asked to help fix it.

The aforementioned - dare I say _confounded_ \- bridge is the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to the rest of The Mitten. And anyone residing below it is a troll. I didn’t think that was meant _literally_ , but it was a troll who contacted me with an entreaty within a complaint. I am known, here and there, beyond the boundaries of the Crescent City.

My potential client’s voice had that deep slurring growl which marked his kind, sort of like sentient mud. The saying - old as dirt? That was the sound.

“We have a plague of sirens,” I was informed. “And they are ruining _everything_.”

My partner-in-investigation Sebastian is a by-blow who contains a portion of siren in his make-up - he was bred to be irresistible - and I knew the particular chaos _they_ could cause. Those who had somehow found their way into the earthly realms outside of the sea were rare, but any time you might hear a pop song and wonder: -a- how could something so inane be a hit and -b- why couldn’t you then get it out of your head, well sure, it might have been engineered according to the algorithms collected by record companies or...it might just be that a siren has sung to you.

“A plague?” I asked. “How many in a plague anyway?”

“Nigh onto a plague - three brothers and their cohort and things are off-kilter. The young disappear into the woods and are claimed by things what dwell there. Too much scrutiny now.”

When I saw that 906 in my caller ID I just knew it was gonna be some Weird Shit. Welcome to my life. But I figured the entire Yoop was weird and why can’t they just all share a bong or something.

“You’re a tourist trap for the supernatural.”

“Pot...meet kettle.”

“ **Exactly**. And we’ve mostly learned how to coexist.”

“Until a by-blow nearly ripped the fabric of Reality to tatters.”

“Hey, I said _mostly_. And that mess has been taken care of now. But what I’m asking is: why haven’t the Fae squashed this?”

“Because two of those three brothers are _twins_.”

“Yikes.”

“Exactly.”

Despite however I might profit from this experience, I never liked coming up against things which were even beyond the efforts of the Courts to handle. Then again, the Fae aren’t as interested in human affairs as are the denizens of the Pit. Your average ironic Reddit addicted, YouTube posting, Soundcloud/Bandcamp releasing, 4chan lurking, A E S T H E T I C S enthusiast is far more precious than any fairy is. It’s the demons who study humans and all they say and do like it’s Finals Week forever.

(Yeesh, what a thought.)

Anyway, so the trolls, goblins, gnomes and dwarves aren’t particularly fond of grandstanding magical beings, as they are the ones entrusted with keeping things tidy. 

“I feel for you, honestly. But you’re in the Deep Freeze up there - is there no one local?”

“No one who could stand unmoved, who possesses the Mark.”

I sighed. This... _thing_ I possessed, it was making me employable in certain quarters. Hell’s tithe, I was marked for the Pit as a result of dalliances with demons who weren’t meant to be played with by humans and thus nothing of a supernatural nature could hurt me. Anything could _try_ , but there would be Hell to pay if something else got to me first. _Literally_ , as the kids say these days.

I had never run up against a full-on siren so I had no idea how that would go. After accepting the assignment for a large fee (travel expenses included) and then making certain the amount was sitting in my PayPal, I consulted with one of my local witches for what I might need. She suggested I wear jewelry set with the official state gemstone - chlorastolite - to ensure my vibrations were aligned with the land. It might make it easier to travel within the state that way and not set off too many eldritch alarm systems.

My partner thought it best to stay behind - he never did well when encountering others of his kind. His blending was wholly unique but you should see him when he spots a succubus, it's all hackles and growling for days.

“Bast, I’m going to ask that you stay out of trouble, please. I know you actually _attract_ trouble because that’s what you do, but I can’t save your pretty face - or ass - when I’m in the last place on Earth.”

“Is that what they call it?” he asked with a smirk.

“Some do. Which makes me that much _less_ enthusiastic to visit.”

I rolled up the country in a 1977 Pontiac Bonneville I found advertised for sale in the latest issue of _Where Y’at?_. Fitting, right? A classic piece of Detroit iron. I preferred to drive because it gave me time to collect my thoughts, consider what I was about to encounter.

Having spent the better part of two years in the company of a hybrid human-siren-satyr-succubus who had finally reached his full potential as a being of Desire, I thought I knew what it was like to be constantly tempted and struggling to control the impulse. I **had** to, I wasn’t allowed to truck with demonic entities no more, no more - as the song goes. And besides, it was Sebastian who had gotten me into trouble in the first place, but recounting that tale is best saved for another time.

These alleged troublemakers were in a band, and I immersed myself in their music - they were beginning to catch on nationwide. They were talented musicians, certainly, even if their music would really only appeal to those who liked it Old School: blues-based rock with plenty of folk touches. It didn’t affect me, of course, I wasn’t headed to Michigan as if it were true north and they the lodestone drawing me hence, but I could still feel a tickle of the glamour brushing my skin.

But I had no idea what they looked like, and this was intentional.

“Do not look upon them beforehand,” my troll client advised. “Your judgement will be affected to behold their depicted selves.”

“Okay but what about when I’m actually there?”

“They will know what you are, and act accordingly.”

“What is my angle, exactly?”

“To know their aims, their intention. They may only be revelling in their power, as they are young. Perhaps fool enough to tread in the path of things older and wiser and not patient to suffer creatures squirming in their rising sap.”

(Oh **that** was an image. I shivered.)

“And then?”

“You will notify the proper authorities.”

“But who is that, if the Fae will not involve themselves?”

“That is for you to decide, Miss Finch, and to persuade.”

Oh great. It wasn’t the first time the balance of _whatever_ was held within my questionable grasp. But I’m only one woman and not even a do-gooder, not really. More like a vaguely well-intentioned meddler, I suppose.


	2. A far piece

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our erstwhile investigator encounters one-fourth of this enchanted band.

I drove until I could not drive anymore, lest I end up in Lake Superior. There’s the Upper Peninsula, which is the entire landmass, and then the Keeweenaw Peninsula, which is the uppermost portion of the Upper Peninsula. That all-important tip...and I snorted as I naturally would to picture it, because sometimes I am utter trash.

Michigan is a beautiful state, truly, but as I travelled its’ length I began to suspect that the woods were hiding any number of things...and they had been here first. It’s a wonder the state was as populated as it was, the barriers must be straining in certain spots.

The town, if you could call it that, wherein my inquiries were meaning to land, was called Allouez, and it made me think of dancing for some reason. As a former mining region, gemstones were a big business here and my bright green pendant garnered many appreciative glances and compliments. I found myself in a general store-cafe-post office-vacation rentals kind of facility, asking around for those infamous residents.

The boys (as I had come to think of them during my journey) all had Biblical names. This amused me, that they had chosen that type of camouflage.

“I came to see the band, I heard they were playing this week?”

The proprietor pointed with his chin beyond where we stood.

“Looks like Danny’s been waitin’ on ya.”

I sighed, again. I gathered myself, steeled myself, and turned very slowly…

...to look upon a being possessing a collision of raw beauty and thoroughly masculine presence standing up to greet me. His wide warm brown eyes were gentle and the brows and eyelashes to die for. (Seriously, how was it that guys always ended up with gorgeous lashes?) The cliched tall, dark and handsome putting paid to the notion that cliches were cliches because they were true. Gleaming thick long black hair framing a face in which resided a devastating smile. I might have altered the nose a bit, as it was more on the hawk-ish side but otherwise...wow, okay, I understood what the troll meant. I might have been swayed by photos and just fallen to my knees to behold the reality. As it was I told myself to get a fucking grip and smiled in turn.

“Are you Savannah?” he asked, his voice far softer than I would have imagined from someone with such explicit physical presence, someone as tall and imposing as he was. We shook hands and his fingers and palm were calloused but there was a softness there, and warmth. I felt the special shine he possessed, but this one was **not** a siren. I surmised his specific glamour was one which had been enhanced by long proximity to the others.

Something has been tugging at my mind...he reminded me of Sebastian, sort of. A more innocent version, perhaps.

“Yes, uh...and you’re Daniel.”

“You can call me Danny. You came a far piece just for an interview.”

Was that...my cover? Hmmm.

“To the ends of the Earth, apparently.” I said this with a laugh which sounded ludicrous to my ears, but he didn’t appear to notice.

“It’s enchanted, you know,” he whispered, as if it was a secret but it was also the very thing tourists flocked to investigate each year.

“So I’ve heard.”

He blinked...onyx butterflies against that creamy complexion...those deep eyes took me in. I was struggling not to sink.

“I’ll take you...to our place.”

“I don’t mean to impose.” (Wait...what? Stop it!)

“Oh it’s no bother. We’ve been waiting a long time for you.”

I followed him out of the building without realizing I was doing it. He slid into the passenger seat of my car - “Wow, we need one of these!” - and I gripped the wheel tightly as he directed my driving. Because I wanted nothing more than to pull off the road and ravish him. They were all of age, but they were also old within those special skins. Danny perhaps less so than the others. How could I tell? It was in the music. I could _hear_ how long they’d been alive...a long time indeed, I had no doubt.

We had driven for a few miles, the glorious landscape continuing to proceed to the terminus when he pointed at what looked to be a dirt track next to a large red oak at the side of the road.

“Turn there.”

“Is that even a road?” I exclaimed as I slowed the car, thinking that my behemoth was perhaps not the equal of this particular route.

“You’ll be fine,” he said, lightly, warmly...I had the strangest craving for German Chocolate cake at that moment. If Danny was **not** a siren, he was at least already powerful enough to be his own brand of addictive.

“Oh...is it enchanted too?”

He winked and grinned and I took a deep breath, turning off the road and into...some _other_ place.


	3. There’s family and then there’s Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Savannah and Danny go for a drive.

I _knew_ he was bait, I truly did. I have been tempted by the best of them in all my years of dealing with any number of supernatural shenanigans. He was a damn fine piece of misdirection, but Danny didn’t mean to distract, I could feel that much. His motivations, if not pure, were at least honest. He was used to being gazed upon with wonder and lust, and he reacted to the attention like a plant to the sun. It was like he was tasting the desire I was doing my best not to show. Every so often he would smirk, just the slightest bit. But he was dressed much like any guy his age would be: jeans and a t-shirt, sandals (I had to stop staring at his toes...I kinda had a thing for big feet), and a string of bright beads around his neck.

They sent him to soften me up, more than likely. Pretty pretty for the rube. Did they really _know_ who I was?

More likely that they were just toying with me, because they could.

Their music told me they were powerful otherworldly beings who were merely attempting to express themselves, not necessarily looking to ensnare listeners. However, a siren in full possession of their ability was one who didn’t always know how to control it. These boys are wreaking havoc in the local environs simply by being there, causing a warp to appear, drawing people to them and thus the area they inhabited. A place humans were not meant to know.

People disappear in the woods all the time, we all know this. It’s the natural order of things, really. A forest is a hungry place. The enchantment currently _in situ_ probably sought to ensure that no undue attention was paid to this place, other than the rumors and legends. But add a certain psycho-sexual element to it, people compelled to follow the song to its’ source, people in the grip of obsessive desire...well, that doesn’t tend to end well at all.

Sebastian lived with me (again, a very long story) and I had more wards on every inch of my little shotgun shanty than the Federal Reserve. And even with that level of protection I still found people loitering across the street at all hours, looking at the house with a desperate hunger, knowing he was in there. Wanting him.

An insistent pulse...I could feel it now, sitting next to Danny. And it’s not like he was doing anything to provoke it beyond his mere existence.

“Your necklace is so pretty,” he murmured, placing a long finger upon the stone.

“Thanks, I bought it on Etsy. Is it easy to find chlorastolite around here?”

“It’s everywhere, but usually the stones aren’t as green as that one. You must be special.”

 _Me?!_ “So,” I said, trying to rescue my voice from a breathless croak as the weight of his attention finally hit me, “is it...weird...being in a band with three brothers?”

He played with his hair, his face moving through a few expressions. “It used to be. I thought of it as family and _not_ family, but still close. A circle of people around them always. And then I was in it. But then, later, I had moved again.”

“Into the family.”

“Yeah, there's different kinds, you know. Family, and then _Family_.”

The forest closed in, nearer to the track. Occasionally there would be a break in the trees and a lush green meadow would be revealed, or the far sight of a stream, glinting like metal in the sun. But mostly it was just the tall trees, birch and pine and oak and maple. I hit a particularly rough patch in the track and slowed down to below five MPH to negotiate it. Danny put a hand on my arm and that warmth I had been feeling in proximity to him became a definite heat uncoiling within me. I flushed and sought to quiet the delirious babble in my mind which had begun the minute I laid eyes on him.

_takehimtakehimNOW_

“Stop here,” he instructed me. “The door is near.”

Oh shit, was I really going to have to walk into the Realm? I would lose time, and maybe time that I couldn’t afford to spare.

“So you actually live in Faery, in the Summerlands?”

He scrunched his face a bit to ponder the question, it was heartrenderingly adorable.

“Sometimes? Not always. Joshie says not everyone is welcome, but as many as can be admitted.”

Well **that** was definite fae-speak, nonsensical and apt all in the same breath. 

(Here’s an aside: I was once in love with an elf-gnome who was employed by the Unseelie and he talked like that; half the time I had no idea what he meant. It was never meant to be for us, but I could feel a tendril of that same pull with Danny. It’s very difficult to resist a magical being which isn’t trying to terrify you, as some might. Even some sirens, maybe.)

But wait...Joshie? Definitely **not** a terrifying kind of siren, I would say.

I nodded, trying to look ponderous. “I see. So do I just -”

Danny smiled, already opening his door. “We’re here!”

I exited the car, though there seemed reason not to lock it. I retrieved my backpack (which I hoped I would be allowed to keep) and moved quickly to keep him in sight. There was a circle of stones, and we walked right past them. Okay. Then a circle of mushrooms. I stopped to marvel at their natural intention, and could swear I spied a shimmer in the air above the formation.

“That’s another door,” he called over his shoulder, and I half-ran to catch up with his long stride.

We stopped just short of a grove of oaks, and such a sight never failed to inspire a certain awe in my mind, as they stood tall and strong against the sky, guarding the earth below. The weave of the branches allowed a few sunbeams here and there to dapple the ground, but there was an eternal shade which caused the temperature to drop a few degrees within its' boundaries.

“Do you see it?” Danny asked me, pointing towards the other side.

It was a test, I knew. Mortals could sometimes accidently enter the Realm, in places where the fabric of prosaic reality was thin. But intentional entry could only be accomplished in a few ways, and so I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, centered myself to strip away as much of the everyday as I could. I wanted to see beyond seeing, if I was able. I did have that ability from time-to-time - my late mother was a spiritualist and she thought I might also have the gift. I was never nearly as adept as she was, but I could see, sometimes. I was always better at ritual workings than psychic stuff.

I opened my eyes and allowed my vision to blur. I slowly blinked and addressed the air in a low whisper.

_May I be granted entry this day?_

The shadows shifted and revealed a house, like an old farmhouse or cottage. But fairly large for a one-story.

“I see your home, it looks very cozy.”

“Then you are welcome!” he declared, that adorable smile made my heart skip yet again. He grabbed my hand and we ran across the grove. And I knew we had crossed into Faery when it seemed as if I wasn’t running along the ground at all, but gliding through the air.


	4. "Who’s interviewing who here?!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introductions are made, and parlay begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Partly in tribute to the idea I've had that Sam really **did** bring Danny home with him one day and attempted a convincing argument as to why they needed another brother.

I was dizzy at first - a place which is wholly supernatural will do that to you, messing with your depth perception and sense of time and all the other ways we seek to ground ourselves. Everything moves at different speeds because there’s nothing to stop it from doing what it will. If I had turned around and looked down the grove everything in that world would have appeared utterly still.

I felt like I was standing in a cloud of gnats but it was really pixies. Every time they tried to alight upon me, something would push them away. It wasn’t unreasonable to think that my Mark repulsed them but then I noticed the stone in my necklace was glowing, flaring bright green.

“Little-known benefit of our state gemstone,” the man before me said. He was sitting on the porch of the house, acoustic guitar in hand, clad in an unbuttoned flowered shirt and very tight shorts. His feet were bare but a pair of finely-tooled Chelsea boots sat nearby. Long wavy brown hair, with lowlights of golden-red, a pleasingly proportioned body and face. Beautiful in that preternatural sense which straddles traditional aspects. Pretty, but in a boyish way. There was something of the imp in his smile, and his hooded syrupy brown eyes regarded me with curiosity, but also recognition of his own attractiveness.

_Yes, please, enjoy yourself, gaze upon me and take it all in. I’ll wait._

He was...I wouldn’t call him _petite_ but shorter than I thought he would be for a siren.

“Pixie repellant?” I asked.

“They’re so annoying. They mean well but they swarm. Pain in the ass.”

Danny giggled and I saw they had all flown to him, tangling in his hair, crawling on his arms and chest. He whispered to them, smiling at their attentions.

“Took you long enough,” the other continued. I turned back around to look and he had set the guitar aside, arranging himself into a provocative sprawl in the porch swing. “Shoulda sent Daniel to fetch you from the get-go.”

“And you are?” I inquired, tilting my head. His wanton beauty certainly might have allowed such behavior in certain quarters but I didn’t crave the sight of him, or the smell. It was really yummy, though, like Bourbon Bread Pudding, but being eaten in a bed where you have spent the last few hours fucking the way you fuck when you’re with a supernatural being. I **do** know what that’s like, though it’s not necessarily something to brag about.

“I’m Jake, I play guitar.”

“I see that.” The other thing I could actually see was this one was running the show. Arrogance slithered beneath that gorgeous skin and finely-crafted face, along the pleasingly compact lines of his body...the birthright of his kind.

(Bedsprings groaning in my mind as I’m being pummelled by those eager for a taste of my particular flavor. They gather around, devouring me with avid eyes. They smile, such perfectly bright smiles, so attractive. It’s a little eerie, how good-looking they all are.)

“Get the fuck out of my brain, Kiszka,” I snapped.

“So you know then.” He smirked and examined his nails.

“Your names, sure. But not who’s who.”

“Smart - that’s how they end up here. It’s not just the music.”

“Of course, it couldn’t be. Not that I don’t like it, but it sounds like you’re holding back.”

His eyes shifted to my backpack. “What did you bring us?”

Like any well-mannered visitor in a bygone era, I had brought gifts. It’s oft-advised not to accept anything from a fae but I wasn’t sure if it was also true of sirens. But these creatures bind, they entangle, so I had to be wary. I also had to visit an abandoned house in an abandoned village off of US-41 and look for Volume 7 of the Childcraft _How and Why_ encyclopedia series (Story of the Sea) plus three large bags of popcorn circa 2008.

(As I stood there in an upstairs bedroom, marveling that these bags of popcorn had not been touched by any other creature or even by general decay for as long as this house had been succumbing to ruin, I once again understood that Fate weaves a very tight tapestry indeed. That, and they had a painting of what I called Margaret Keane’s “harlequin girl” I’d never seen before. I’d seen Harlequin Girl at the beach, with a mandolin, as a ballerina, dancing with a clown (but not Pierrot), and even cuddling a kitten, but this one was...I felt like she’d been waiting there, however many years, just to look from the wall right back at _me_. Have you ever felt that - the hunger of abandoned houses and the things they contain?)

“Some stuff I was told you would like,” as I handed it over. He grinned at the bags of popcorn.

“Aww man, who told you I love stale popcorn?!”

I shrugged. “Not you specifically, I was told that since you all are young you likely had bad taste.”

Danny giggled again. “They’ll eat anything.”

“Don’t start with me, Wagner!” Jake exclaimed. He eyed me suspiciously. “I bet **you** like pineapple on pizza too, don’t you?”

I shuddered. “No, but I do enjoy anchovies.”

“Oh those crunchy little bones!” he replied with that shiny grin.

That nagging in the back of my mind, it had begun again the minute Danny said _they’ll_ like the Kiszkas were a species apart.

“So is this one your get?” I asked, knowing it was rude but I was curious.

“He belongs to Sam,” Jake replied, opening one of the large bags to release that plastiky reek of whatever it was they used to give the popcorn its’ “buttery” flavor. I swallowed heavily and moved closer to Danny, gratefully breathing in his cake scent. “Brought him home one day and declared he was keeping him.”

“Is there a changeling in his place somewhere?”

“I **did** think about trading him for our sister, but -”

“I heard that, you brat! Don’t let that sneaky sneaker in the house! Spying on us, she is!”

“You’ll have to excuse Ronnie, she’s a bit paranoid,” another voice commented. The screen door opened and when the two energies were joined there before me, I could barely hold my ground at the foot of the stairs.

Twins are powerful because they’re as close to a natural eternal recursion as can be found, whether magical or not. When Josh took his place next to Jake, they formed a mirror but they also created a loop which fed endlessly upon itself. A beauty ever-occurring, to enthrall without end.

Danny put those powerful hands on me and delivered a gentle shake. “Don’t stare,” he whispered. “You’ll just get stuck.”

“Is that what happened to you?” I whispered back.

His cheeks turned red and he looked down at his feet. The onyx butterflies fluttered again.

“I scryed you, months ago. And I wondered, who must be this interesting young woman coming our way?”

 _Young_...oh he was laying it on with a trowel, wasn’t he? And that accent, such as it was, it was _theatrical_ , for lack of a better term. But Jake’s brother held a shining charm within his form, his curls forming a true sort of halo about his head. They were alike and yet if you looked long enough (though I’d been warned not to by more people than just their bandmate) you could begin to discern the differences they’d each cultivated. I decided a truth would be easier to begin with.

“I’m here to find out who you are, same as anybody.”

“But you’re not just anybody, are you, Miss Finch. A very particular sort of _somebody_.”

“As are you, Mr. Kiszka.”

They all laughed at the formality. “I know, I know - there’s always the question of: if you are immortal, and if you are powerful, why would you subjugate yourself to high school, of all places? You just reminded me of our folly.” Josh grinned, as if that would forgive everything. 

(And I’ll be damned - well, more damned than I already _am_ , I suppose - to find that it did.)

“I attended a boarding school. Maybe you should try it, sometime.”

“We threatened Sam with that, back in the 1930s, I believe. He was getting a bit too permissive.”

“And yet here you are, running a summer camp for -”

Josh came to stand before me, our respective eyelines were nearly level. They did have eyes like amber, maybe, but not quite as glow-y. Maybe more like ochre or bronze. A warmth which made me think of hearthfires and campfires.

“It’s our last revel, Savannah. By the equinox we must walk the meadows and then onto Home.”

I was ready to make a joke about _rumspringa_ , but the wistfulness in his eyes gave me pause. Then I remembered that time in the Realm was more like geological time, measured in spans humans could not fathom.

“What is a mere blink to you means years of havoc for us. You don’t get to decide that.”

“I told you, she came to scold us!” Jake declared.

“Did you really?” Josh drawled. “I was hoping you would be _interesting_.”

“Who’s interviewing who here, huh?!” I said, stalling against their annoyance. 

Danny embraced me from behind, holding me against his broad chest, in which beat his very human heart.

 _So what are you **now** , dude?_ I wondered.

“Sammy said not to touch.”

“We’re not touching, Daniel,” Josh countered, his voice now hushed. “We don’t hurt people.”

“You can’t,” I insisted, “didn’t you see **that** in your augury?”

Danny sniffed at me. “You do smell kinda weird.”

Josh sniffed as well, loudly. “Brimstone.”

“Yep.”

“So it’s true, we have Hell’s Tithe in our hands.”

This new voice was raspy, but with the same intonation as his brothers. Sam emerged from the woods like the sylph he appeared to be, long limbs swaying as he trod the path with his barefoot step, his hair flowing thick much as his brothers, but even longer, and the bones of his face seemed finer, somehow. The voice totally ruined the effect, but oh he was so lovely to look at, especially as he was dressed much like his brothers in flattering togs. The same beauty but with a slightly different spin to it.

“Sammy,” Danny murmured above my head, tightening his grip on me. I should have been upset, but...I just _wasn’t_.

“So _this_ was your long con? Are you crazy?” I interjected.

“As if the Pit could touch us!” he replied, with just the slightest scorn.

 _Oh sweet summer child_ , as the saying goes. These kids really didn’t know what they were doing. But I couldn’t stand the thought of them being punished; they were just looking for a good time, right?

(Ye gods I **must** be subject to their allure after all.)

“Okay listen, let’s just pretend that’s true. But think what the Great Mother would have to say about the Lord of Pestilence trailing filth in your pristine environs. They _will_ come to collect me at some point.”

Silence, then, as they all pondered this notion. Well, it wasn’t silence as such. This was Faery, which meant distant music could be heard, bells on the breeze, as well as a deep hum of fulfillment from every single thing. I leaned against Danny and just enjoyed it for a moment (or maybe it was a year...who knows).

“Send her back!” Jake cried.

“Yes, banish her!” their sister exclaimed from somewhere in the house.

“Nobody asked you, Ronnie!” Sam replied.

“Until they do,” Josh said, “I don’t see why she can’t witness our great work.”

“Just great and not Great?” I inquired with a smirk.

“It’s progressing!” Sam shot back and those familial familiar eyes examined me thoroughly. I didn’t like it at all, despite feeling myself melt in the high beams of his scrutiny.

“Think of where you are,” Danny whispered. “Think of what you will see, and hear. It’s _glorious_.”

And **that** was exactly what I was afraid of.


	5. The polemics of pixie dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a hidden cost to everything, doncha know.

We entered the house; and as with all magical architecture, it was bigger on the inside. The place was furnished to human standards and comforts, clearly meant to attract people to desire to remain within its walls, even as I imagined the forest would offer more interest.

The vortex in these woods is not a fixed phenomenon, it is whatever you think it is, however you experience it. People had been coming to this area for decades to witness the effects of the vortex, whether they specifically believed in it or not.

Curiosity is a hard-wired human trait.

“What is the vortex doing to these people?” I asked as they led me down hallways and through various rooms. We entered a parlour furnished in what I thought of as Mid-American circa early ‘90s, comfortably shabby and retro-trendy. Josh waved a hand and the coffee table was immediately set with food and drink.

“Okay, here’s something we need to discuss,” I noted, gesturing at the proferred fare. “Are you _starving_ these kids?”

Fairy gifts of food and drink can be ingested by humans but have absolutely no nutritional value. I looked at Danny and he seemed okay. His musculature appeared normal for a person of his age, height and build. So had the other people I’d seen so far in the house. But whoever walked the Realm would not last long on their own.

“Of course not!” Sam replied, looking offended. “We don’t hurt people!”

“Perhaps not on purpose, but you wouldn’t be the first creatures to sicken humans without meaning to.”

“Danny brings them food,” Josh explained. “We send him back for it.”

I took Danny’s hand and brought him over to the couch to sit beside me. I studied his face with concern for a long moment. If they had him passing between the worlds numerous times it was bound to take a toll on whatever was still human in him. Mortals aren’t meant to endure such powerful magic for long periods of time. He looked _fine_ \- finer than fine, in point of fact - his physical beauty nearly the equal of his enchanted brethren. But I wondered how old he really was now, and if he could ever go home.

“And what kind of effect is being your errand boy having on him?”

“He’s immortal, like us,” Josh whispered to me. “But it is not known to the Court.”

“How can they **not** know something?!”

“Like any bureaucracy, the Court is caught up in their own concerns,” Sam replied.

“ _Of course_ they are. So you dudes really _are_ renegade. Huh.”

“We follow our own path to the Sun,” Josh proclaimed.

“Aaaah - I’ve only been here, like, twenty minutes in human time and I am ALREADY so sick of Fae bullshit-speak!”

The brothers shrugged at me, a unified _hey, that’s not **our** problem_. Meaning: my limited understanding of their motives and whims.

I selected a macaron from a beautifully-painted porcelain dish, wondering what would happen if I ate it. I was not allowed to partake of demonic temptations of any kind...and weren’t sirens considered demons in some quarters?

“Are you fae?” I blurted out. The smell of the thing was making me crazy...a kind of sweetness which was tempting even to me. But such a question was considered rude. I really was hungry, though - hell, I’m from New Orleans, we’re _always_ hungry.

“Would we be here if we weren’t?” Jake responded.

“If the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing? You could be _anything_ which managed to wriggle inside.”

“We are.” Josh said this with the kind of emphasis which told me not everyone would agree.

I took a bite. The cookie tasted like strawberry, but in some liminal space between genuine and fake. And I liked that. I tried to chew it but it immediately melted away on my tongue. The flavor lingered, thankfully, without morphing to ashes or mud. I swallowed, waiting. I counted to sixty and nothing happened. I sighed in relief and finished the thing.

“Try the green ones,” Jake recommended with a grin.

It was my turn to shrug. “Nah, I can’t get drunk or high anymore.”

“Bummer!” Sam exclaimed. “Like, they had to add insult to damnation.”

“Right?! This is the level of sadism I’m dealing with on the daily.”

“If you’re under a curse,” Danny said, those deep brown eyes wide with concern, “maybe we can help you break it.”

I smiled at him. Ye Gods he was _adorable_. “It’s not a curse as such - I’ve been damned. And that’s forever.”

“But you don’t _look_ damned.”

“Thank you for saying so. Most people sense there’s something off about me, and those who are enchanted can smell the brimstone. But it’s nothing obvious, which perhaps speaks to the deeper motivations of the Pit.”

“Are you here at their command?” Sam demanded, suddenly looking afraid.

“Dude, they wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about what you’re doing here. You’re lucky, though, that no one of importance from the Court contacted me. Just annoyed locals.”

“If the neighbors don’t hate you, then you ain’t doin’ it right,” Josh proclaimed with a grin.

“Yeah that’s cute and all, but if you’re warping the world then eventually _everyone_ will come for you. You can’t be obvious, that is the primary law - and don’t act like you don’t know that, if you’re as old as I think you are.”

“We don’t _look_ old, do we?” Jake asked, lowering his voice and looking around. “Even in daylight?”

“No, you all look barely legal, it’s disgusting.”

Their faces fell in unison and I waved my hands in surrender.

“I don’t mean, like, _literally_ disgusting. You’re all fucking gorgeous, okay?”

Their collective smiles could have powered every town and village within a 50-mile radius.

“See, that is what is _off_ about you guys. How are **all** of you so attractive? Haven’t you been asked about that? Like, what are the odds that all of you would be beautiful and you just, like, _found_ each other?”

“But we’re brothers, that makes sense.” Sam replied.

“Okay, but then you just happen to be best friends with someone who is equally breathtaking? How does **that** happen?”

“See, your reaction to Danny is not normal, because you’re human but not,” Jake tried to explain.

“No, I’m human but I can _see_. That has nothing to do with the Mark. So what is the normal reaction to him?”

“Uh -” Sam stuttered.

“I like to call it _distant_ ,” Josh said.

“People are shy around me,” Danny explained, with a shrug.

They had all turned evasive, looking at the floor, playing with their hair, looking caught out as if in a prank of some kind. But then Sam gave me a defiant look, although that supermodel face of his turned the annoyance into a type of haughty beauty.

“What did you do to him?” I asked, sounding like a harried mother.

“Daniel is mine! I can’t have people just climbing all over him all the time!”

“Uh-huh...like, this happens to you?”

“Watch,” Jake said, then opened the door to the parlour. After a few moments people began to wander inside and arrange themselves around the others, either in close proximity or at their feet, staring up in dazed wonder. I saw a couple girls and one guy standing on the other side of the room from Danny, looking at him with obvious appreciation, and he smiled back at them, but they came no closer. I watched as one of the girls stood up and looked as though she meant to approach him, but then seemed to think better of it.

“So, what, you put him in a bubble?” I asked Sam, who was now surrounded by admirers.

“Yeah; and so why aren’t _you_ affected?”

“Because like I said before, kid, I can’t be touched.”

He threw me another annoyed look but then was immediately distracted by the demands of his localized swarm.

I held Danny’s hand again, examining the various calluses, cuts and general roughness which were the hazards of his drumming duties.

“Well you _may_ be immortal, but you could never tell by your hands.”

Danny shrugged again. “I don’t know if that’s really true. I think they want it to be true.”

“But they’re sirens, they have magic.”

“But I don’t _feel_ immortal. I mean, don’t you think you would know? Inside of yourself, I mean. You know you’re... _damned_ , right? Even without being told?”

I nodded. I felt the Mark every minute, although over the years I’ve learned to let it fade into the background and not dwell on it overly much.

“Wanna blow this party and go get a burger or something?”

He smiled. “Not a burger, a pasty - they’re the best!”

“Pasty like an English pasty?”

Danny nodded. “I have a bulk order to pick up tomorrow. I guess it would be tomorrow, anyway.”

“What time is it now?” I looked out a nearby window and it appeared to be mid-afternoon.

“There’s no time here, but it’s always Midsummer.”

“Yeah I figured. No tech either, right? Whatever you guys do to play amplified music is all magic.”

“Yeah; no one likes it that they can’t get their phones to work, so no selfies with us or anything, but they can take our music back on CDs, and so that’s how it’s online.”

“Hmmm, I wonder how they managed **that**. Normally fairy gifts lose their enchantment in the mundane. But anyway, let’s go back to town, just for a little while. I need some actual food, and the Internet.”

“Do you feel sick? I felt sick for a while when I first came here. Sam taught me how to make pixie dust and that fixed it.”

I felt a chill at those words. Like tiny feet walking up my spine.

“Like...pixie dust from actual pixies?”

Danny nodded. “I know it sounds bad, but there’s _so many_ of them. They get smushed anyway, by all the people. I just take the broken ones and make them into dust.”

It all made sense, then. I was ready to rant to Jake but he was also surrounded by a hoard of girls and welcomed their attentions to the fullest. Josh, on the other hand, looked like he was delivering a lecture about...forest conservation?

“Who here knows who John Muir is?” I called out as I approached him. Only one guy further back in the crowd raised his hand. “I thought so - you’re wasting your time, Kiszka.”

Josh gave me a look like _oh I pity your tiny tiny mind_. “It doesn’t matter what they know _now_ , but what they _will_ know.”

“More fairy bullshit, yeah, okay so they’re all **high**? Is that what is happening here? A captive audience because you guys wanna play rock stars and you can only do it in this pocket universe?”

“The pixies will go to waste otherwise. They are past caring.”

“I’m not here to discuss the polemics of pixie dust, but I **do** think it’s irresponsible to be dosing these kids, some of whom apparently have wandered off into the woods and gotten themselves eaten, or whatever.”

Danny had disappeared and so I found myself following his scent through the hallway, and thus to the kitchen where he stood at a counter with a pile of dead pixies on one side and a mortar and pestle on the other. He took each tiny body, spoke some words over it, then placed it into the bowl. Once he had put in as many as would fit he began grinding them to dust. A sparkling cloud rose into the air as he worked the pestle. The bodies made a crunching sound as he ground them down. I shuddered.

“You’ve never tried it? **Never**?” Josh asked, and I was startled because I hadn’t heard him follow me.

“Sure I’ve _tried_ it, what do you take me for? But save the ethically-sourced bullshit for someone else.”

“The fae having been doing this since forever.”

“Yes but not on this kind of scale. This is not Woodstock, Josh; you are meant to pick those you enchant very carefully. Because you know that when they go under the hill they can never come back as they were.”

The lines of his lovely face were set with determination. He was listening to me but had no intention of truly considering what I had to say. In that aspect they all were very young indeed.

“Think about what this is doing to Danny, at the very least.” As I said it, the subject of my sentence sneezed loudly. “Breathing in vast quantities of this stuff; it’s a wonder he’s not a full-blown idiot by now!”

“He’s _special_ , that’s why Sam picked him.”

“I’ve no doubt, but all of this is taking a toll on him. Frankly, I’m more concerned with that than I am the warp in the vortex. I mean, it’s a vortex, there’s gonna be weird shit!”

“I know, right?!”

Wide eyes full of empathy and joy...oh he was _tricky_.

I held up a hand. “All right, don’t be misdirecting me. Do you understand what I’m telling you? About Danny?”

Josh pouted again. It was so cute.

“We’ve placed him in a very intricate web. We’re protecting him as best we can. We _need_ him.”

“Which is _exactly_ why you shouldn’t be doing this to him. You know how you could pass in the mundane. Keep it small, make each performance totally magical in the moment. And then they leave, and they forget, eventually. But for that moment you would hold them in your thrall, their adoration would feed you just fine.”

“Where’s the fun in that?!”

I sighed. Who knows how much time had already elapsed in the mundane while we stood there arguing.

“There!” Danny declared, knocking the mortar against the counter several times, presumably to break apart any remaining lumps. Another cloud rose from the bowl and a draft wafted it our way, a shimmering rainbow mass full of music and the laughter of tiny voices. I tried not to breathe too much of it in as it floated around me. I looked over at Danny and he was covered in sparkles. His hair was now coated in a layer of pixie dust like he was ready for Coachella. He looked ridiculous and beautiful all at the same time.

_Oh this is just great._

The cloud floated out of the room and they both giggled.

“High on your own supply, you know that’s always a bad sign.”

Josh smirked, taking the mortar from Danny and exiting the kitchen.

“Cmon,” I said to Danny, “We should get you cleaned up.”

“Savannah,” he intoned, taking my clean hands in his glittering ones and as freaked out as I was by that I couldn’t resist him. “You can _see_ me, you want to _touch_ me, so _be with me_ , please. Don’t be afraid of this.”

I reminded myself that he was bait but I also asked myself: _How did he know?_ Because I **was** afraid. I have an addiction - not to pixie dust or anything fae-related, but I knew enchanted temptations were never worth the cost. But then I considered that Danny was lonely...in the midst of this constant revelry his best friend had set him aside, placing him in a metaphorical tower. One never feels so alone as when in a crowd. And I wondered why Sam wasn’t paying attention to him. But if interacting with Danny would get Sam’s attention then maybe I should. Besides, I wasn’t made of stone, Danny’s pleading eyes were so wide and warm.

_He’s bait!_

(Oh shut up.)

I leaned against him, closing my eyes for a moment. Listening to his heartbeat. It was so loud, I imagined Sam hearing it for the first time and knowing the rightness of their meeting. I opened my eyes and smiled up at him. His lips were smudged with pixie dust and I put my arms around his neck, pulling his face closer for a kiss. He picked me up like I weighed nothing at all and set me on the counter so he wouldn’t have to bend down. And then **he** kissed **me** and likely another year or two passed as I lost myself within the euphoria of the dust. Not that Danny wasn’t his own brand of tempting but pixie dust makes everything so _sparkly_.


	6. Sleep and the sound of windchimes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A simple lyric, to unite us all, you know.

I didn’t know I had been unconscious until I opened my eyes. So many details running together like a chalk drawing in a rainstorm. There was something about Sam and a unicorn? Braiding its mane...and then there were girls who wanted to braid his hair. And so much laughing. At everything and nothing.

I found myself in a bed. A rather large bed, but I was alone. I shifted onto my back and looked around the room. It was very simple: clean white walls and austere furnishings, plain soft linens. But I was wearing a nightgown and **that** was weird. I wasn’t really a nightgown kinda gal, not since I was a kid. It was certainly a pretty thing, lavender with lace around the sleeves and neck.

_But how…?_

I was alone, but had I been abandoned? Tucked away? Or was I -

Danny appeared from an adjacent room, maybe a bathroom? He was dust-free, his shiny thick hair pulled back from his face, wearing dark drawstring crinkle cotton pants and nothing else.

Okay so **not** abandoned. I sighed, a now reflexive sigh in response to his mere presence.

He smiled. “Hi. Did you sleep okay?”

I sat up and pulled my hair back, sighing again. “I guess? I can’t tell what was a dream and what actually happened.”

“Yeah, it was pretty wild.”

“ _Of course_ it was.”

“But, I mean, you didn’t do...much.”

“Oh don’t even tell me, or not _yet_. I need coffee.”

“But you should feel okay; pixie dust isn’t supposed to make you feel hungover or anything. You just wake up and feel fine.”

“I am a human being who needs coffee, hungover or not.”

“Sam **loves** coffee so there’s always coffee, no worries.”

I climbed out of bed carefully, as I couldn’t really tell how _long_ the nightgown was. Then again, by now my modesty might have been unnecessary. I was thankful that it turned out to be full-length, all rather innocent rather than grown-woman lingerie.

“Where are my clothes?”

“Josh told you to change because your clothes were polluting the environment. _Everybody_ has to change their clothes. But you get to wear whatever you want.”

“So why am I in a nightgown?”

Danny blushed, eyelashes fluttering. “Because I think it looks pretty on you.”

This boy was going to **kill me** , I swear. But for the moment I thought better of scolding him.

The house itself was fairly quiet; there was the sound of distant music as always, but also music being made nearby. I could hear the resonance of strings and wood in close proximity. A tuneful humming, lullaby-gentle. I _felt_ the expectant breath of observers. Danny’s tread behind me was percussive in a sympathetic fashion - he kept the beat in all things, it seemed.

His heartbeat, it was like I could _feel it_ inside me now.

“Are we...joined now, somehow?” I whispered.

He smiled. “It’s probably the dust.”

I shook my head. Ye Gods, I was already rogue as they were: bloodstream glittering with who knew how much pixie dust, barefoot in a nightgown like I was at a sleepover...all that was missing was braids with matching ribbons.

_Oh if Bast could see me now. Oh shit, what if he can?!_

I grabbed Danny’s arm. His oh-so-chiseled bicep, in point of fact.

“Listen, you’ve gotta know that I’m not staying, okay? I was sent here because there’s a problem. Josh’s whole utopia trip, Jake’s love-in, and whatever the hell Sam’s got in mind - this can’t go on. Right now it’s only the trolls who are pissed. But this warp, it’s going to set off _someone’s_ alarm. And then you’re _really_ in trouble.”

Danny looked down at me, his beautiful face solemn, cupping my face in his strong long-fingered hand. I ran my fingers over it, feeling myself melt again.

“It’s about the music. All this other stuff -” he waved his other hand in the air above us, accidentally colliding with a stray pixie who squeaked in surprise, “ - it’s just because we have an audience. But the _music_ has brought us together. Don’t you want to hear it?”

“I have, and it’s wonderful. But it’s not enough to excuse what is going on here. And they know that!” I pointed towards the outside of the house to indicate his bandmates.

“They’re not trying to hurt anybody.”

“Daniel,” my voice lowering, attempting to impart what I was about to say with as much gravity as possible (even as my brain kept swirling like one of those clear plastic wands filled with liquid and glitter). “You think you know their motivations, but all you know is what they’ve told you. The whims of the Fae, we can’t even begin to understand **any** of it.”

“They wouldn’t lie to me. Sam wouldn’t lie to me.”

I heard a deep hapless love in the way he said his best friend’s name.

“It’s not about lies, it’s about what their desires are leading to. Sam could tell you the sky is blue but because he’s not human, the way he says it means you think you _might_ understand, but you really don’t.”

“Why do we have to argue about this?” Danny looked _so hurt_ by what I was saying. Ugh, my emotions were all over the damn place.

“Okay I’ll stop. Let’s go listen to some music.”

“And make some too!” Danny declared with a grin.

We came out onto the porch where the three had gathered before a crowd. Jake and Sam brandished acoustic guitars. Danny joined them, seating himself behind a talking drum, with other percussive items close to hand. After a few moments of near-silence they began playing a soft but insistent melody. I stood in the doorway and watched the crowd begin to sway in unison. I felt the music like tendrils moving through the air, silver and gold ribbons of sound. This went on for a time, increasing in volume and intensity, then dropping back down to make space for Josh. He didn’t sing, but because he was a siren his speaking voice was also completely compelling.

_Sleep and the sound of windchimes_  
_find yourself deeper than the Earth_  
_find yourself cradled within these hands_  
_watching clouds_  
_watching clouds progress through indigo._  
_Feeling the trust of the ground_  
_to hold you so close_  
_to allow you to move upon its’ skin._  
_Live within this moment always_  
_as if in a dream_  
_but also a loving understanding._

Hypnosis, but a message of empathy given to these open minds and hearts. How very strange this all was, the confluence of magic and desire and wild energies. But entirely powerful, as I could feel myself melting into it, joined with everyone, all of us syncing our heartbeats into one deep abiding pulse.


	7. A beer run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Savannah and Danny go out for...lunch? Yeah, we'll call it lunch.

After their impromptu porch concert, I saw Danny speaking to Jake; the two seemed to be having an argument, though not necessarily one borne out of anger. Finally the kingpin shrugged, tossed his hair, and set off with his brothers into the woods. The majority of the audience followed them. Danny looked around at those who remained, smiling to see me.

“It’s tomorrow!” he exclaimed once he had walked over to me. “Time to get the pasties!”

“Okay, where are my clothes? I am **not** crossing the border in this thing.”

“I put them with mine in the special cupboard.”

“What’s so special about it?”

We retreated to the house and he led me down a long hallway till I felt like perhaps we were in an area of the house closest to the border. There was a room containing naught but a painted armoire, carved with images of native flora and fauna. The door clicked open at his touch and he withdrew a bundle which he handed to me and also the clothes he had been wearing when I met him. On this side of the border they looked rather more shabby than when I first saw them. My clothes also appeared worn and faded.

“How long has it _really_ been?” I asked.

“It’s tomorrow!” he said again with a grin, pulling down the black pants and -

“Dude, no, I don’t need to see -”

Danny paused, the fabric hanging off his iliac crest and dark as that luscious treasure trail of his which appeared to go all the way down from his navel, _oh blessed sky above and earth below._

“Savannah,” he said, again in that low voice which I imagined meant that he was being serious even as I felt anything but staring at his formidable form. “We’ve already seen each other naked.”

“We have?!” I was stunned and suddenly I found myself on the wooden floor, looking up and up and up at him and -

He nodded.

“I don’t remember. You said I didn’t do... _much_.”

“I wouldn’t let you. Sam said I shouldn’t.”

“Because you’re _his_?”

“Oh no, that’s not it. Because I am supposed to protect you. And you were -”

“ **High** out of my motherfucking mind?!”

Danny grinned. “Yeah.”

“So how does the naked part figure in all this?”

“When Josh told you that you needed to change clothes I couldn’t stop you - you just took everything off _so fast_. I took all my clothes off too, so you didn’t have to be naked all alone. But no one really cared by then. I asked Sam to give you a pretty nightgown, but it took a few tries. He has different ideas about pretty.”

“Oh I _bet_ he does.”

“I’m sorry you don’t remember, if you wanted to.”

_Oh you have no idea in all of the worlds how much I want to._

“Okay so, yeah let’s just get -”

And I was also _so fast_ in changing clothes once more but although Danny watched me he didn’t stare. It was the kind of gaze which merely took in everything, probably in the discharge of his current duties as regarded my person. But I **did** stare. I tried not to feel guilty about it because Danny was entirely comfortable in this setting, in whatever he might wear or not, and he wanted to be _seen_ by someone.

And was he a sight to behold? Oh yes. I wanted, at that moment, to climb him like a tree.

_(Focus, damnit! He’s still bait!)_

“Okay so, are you ready?”

“Yeah, it’s just outside. You have to hold my hand when we cross.”

“Why?”

“You can’t leave without me.”

Another chill circled my spine. _What had happened last night?_ I was still afraid to ask.

We hiked back to my car and Danny drove us to Pasty Central, which was located a couple towns over. We first filled up with the aforenamed pastry-stuffed-with-meat-and-vegetables and my body thanked me profusely with an orgasmic rush of endorphins.

“Oh,” was all I could say. Actually it was more like a moan.

“So good, right?!” Danny said, nearly inhaling another one. After eating ten of the things (I had to stop at six, and I was shocked - I have been known to eat prodigious quantities of _everything_ ) he then polished off a plate of spaghetti and meatballs (all covered in cheese, as the song goes).

“It’s just like I said,” I told him as I gratefully sipped a cup of coffee. Not necessarily _good_ coffee, but at that point I wasn’t about to get snobby. “They’re _starving_ you. Not on purpose, but still.”

Danny shrugged, wiping tomato sauce from his mouth. “I get hungry on this side. But then it goes away when I get home.”

A bittersweet ache arose in me to hear him say that. Home was wherever _they_ were, but especially Sam.

“How old were you when you met Sam?”

“I think I was twelve? I really can’t remember.”

“And how old are you now?”

“Twenty. Sam says I’m 20 now.”

“Are you going to stay that age, do you think?”

“I dunno, I don’t really think about how old I am when I’m there. I forget about things like that.”

A girl came out and began piling large cardboard boxes onto the counter. “Here you go, Danny,” she called. “You can start loading them in your car.”

He slid out of the booth and walked over to the counter, giving her a not entirely innocent kiss in exchange for the food. She gazed at him in adoration and hugged him hard for at least a minute. I was glad to see the bubble didn't extend to the mundane world. He kissed the top of her head and walked out to the car with an armful of the boxes, the fragrant smell of their cargo trailing behind him.

I had charged my phone during our drive so while Danny was occupied I placed a call.

“Poms’ Odyssey of Oddities, Poms speaking.” Melisseus Poms was a former courtier of the Unseelie Court and now disgraced expatriate residing on the other side of the divide, as well as one of my exes. Somehow I managed to mend fences with him because I was a sucker for a Cockney accent and he was dapper, charming and my main source for knowledge of the Fae.

“Poms, it’s me.”

A sigh which even managed to sound Cockney came down the line. “Right out of bloody nowhere, as usual. Ta, Savvy.”

“Sorry, I wouldn’t be calling if I didn’t need to. But do you know any sirens?”

“Might’ve crossed paths with a few in the Court, certainly.”

“Like who?”

“Only one I actually recall was Mab’s favorite - he had a human name, which was rather odd. John, was it?”

My heart made a leap in my chest. “Was it by any chance Joshua?”

“Yeah yeah, that’s the one!”

“Do you remember how long ago that was?”

“In human years? At least a thousand, I reckon. She loved his voice, as did all the Court, but she banished him too, as I recall.”

“She does that a lot, it seems.”

“He fancied humans far too much for her liking. Have you run into him, then?”

“Yeah, but in Faery. How is that possible?”

Danny was on his last few loads of boxes and I moved over to the counter. “Hang on,” I said to Poms. I waved to get the girl’s attention. “Hey, can you tell my friend I had to use the restroom?”

She gave me a look as if to say _You’re friends with **him**? Yeah right!_ but also nodded.

I hurried into the Ladies’ Room and locked myself in a stall. “Still there?” I asked.

“Yeah, Sav. And the answer to your question is: it’s not.”

“Okay but what if a vortex is involved?”

“Hmm. Well I s’pose it might be a way to access the Border, but that’s awful tricksy, unstable as those things tend to be.”

“But three sirens, thousands of years old, might be powerful enough to do it?”

“Three?”

“And two of them are twins.”

“Well why didn’t you say that to begin with?! Twins are a bloody mirror for magic! Anything _could_ be possible if you’ve got twins.”

“Oh shit, this is worse than I thought.”

“Well it’s always _worse_ , innit?”

I sighed. “You ain’t never lied 'bout that, my friend.”

The outer door to the restroom opened. “Savannah?” I heard Danny call. “Are you gonna be a while?”

“Just a minute!”

“Who’s that?” Poms asked me.

I waited till Danny closed the door to respond. “That is a human who might be in a lot of trouble. Look, I’m on a job in Michigan, can you tell Sebastian to scry me, please?”

“Can’t just ring him?”

“He refuses to use a cellphone and I have no idea whose bed he might be in right now.”

“Then what makes you think **I** can find him?”

“Just go over to the Hi-Hat sometime today, Anthony can summon him. Please dude, I really need to talk to him. I thought this was gonna be simple -”

“ - but as usual -”

“- as usual, **nothing** ever is.”

“Oh, you _owe me_ , girl. Now I just have to reckon what it will be.”

“Fair enough. I gotta go, thanks P.”

“Ta, luv. Just try and keep yer head, oi!”

I laughed ruefully as I ended the call. _Too late!_

We drove back to Allouez within a cloud of savory deliciousness, with seemingly hundreds of boxes of pasties stored in the spacious trunk and back seat.

“We have to get some beer too,” Danny informed me as we turned off the highway.

“Dude, there is absolutely no room in here for any kegs. Well, _maybe_ one, but that’s it.”

“Oh no, just a case.”

“Dude, you can’t make a beer run for just one case! With all those people?!”

“It’s just for Sam and me. He likes to drink human beer. We have burping contests.”

“That is so romantic!” I was only being half-snarky.

“It’s the only thing he asks of me, and he gives me so much in return.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell Danny that he had already sacrificed his humanity on the altar of Sam’s desires; but I also knew he had done so with a willingness which he believed was love.


	8. Nice Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Savannah learns that ice cream can't fix everything.

Back at what I had come to think of as Supply Headquarters, Danny bought a case of some local IPA along with various bags of snacks and I browsed the aisles, trying to figure out whatever I _might_ need for an extended stay in the Realm. But it was difficult to know whether my body would obey natural laws while in an enchanted space. I found myself staring at a shelf of (woefully-stocked) feminine products when I heard what sounded like a scuffle at the front of the store.

“Danny,” a woman spoke. “Danny it’s **me**.”

I emerged out by the register to see Danny being _gripped_ by someone I presumed was his inquisitor. She was petite, with lovely hair for an older woman, a silvery French braid trailing down her back. I thought her quite attractive upon first glance even as she was dressed 30 years too young, but her jewelry was obviously expensive and bohemian-style. He stared at her, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, and the confusion on his face indicated he did not recognize her.

“It’s Gretchen,” she continued, and her voice cracked around her own name, as if he _should_ know. “Didn’t anybody look for me?!”

“Who?” he replied, looking down at her hand, lined and spotted though her grip was strong, fingers digging into his skin. “You’re hurting me.”

“I was _lost_ ,” she insisted. “For such a long time.”

“ _Who are you?_ ” he asked, wrenching his arm away.

But with her last statement, I knew. I thought about what the troll had told me, people wandering off into the woods. But how had she managed to come back through the warp?

“It’s **me** ,” she exclaimed. “I was _there_ , you saw me every day.”

The cashier eyed her warily, Danny’s change in hand, and I approached her quietly, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Hey,” I said softly, “let’s go outside and figure this out, okay? I’m sure Danny will remember you if you can refresh his memory.”

“Who are _you_?!” she demanded. I saw desperate fear in her eyes so I wasn’t offended by her tone.

“My name is Savannah, I’m new to the scene so we haven’t met.” I gave her the warmest smile I could muster. “It’s nice to meet you, Gretchen.”

“Didn’t _anybody_ look for me?” she asked again. Tears welled in her pretty gray-green eyes.

_I can see why they let **you** stay, honey._

“I -” Danny began, then trailed off. His reaction made sense - if no one paid attention to him _dans Chez Kiszka_ , then why would he bother to form any attachments?

“Gretchen.” I took her arm carefully, trying my best to steer her to calmer waters, hurriedly murmuring an incantation under my breath. “C’mon, let’s go sit down and talk this out. Would you like an ice cream? I sure would!”

They each looked momentarily confused but the power of ice cream (certainly more efficacious than any incantation, most of the time) steamrolled the attendant bad vibes.

“I don’t eat dairy,” she said and by the tone of her voice I could tell she had returned to whatever reality she was inhabiting. Not necessarily _the best one_ , I reckoned, but at least her minor mania was abandoned for the moment.

We all turned to the cashier.

“I got some Nice Cream,” he said. “We do get a lot of vegan tourists up here in the Yoop.”

Gretchen nodded, and we were thus united in snacktime.

There was a grouping of picnic tables outside beyond the parking lot, and it was comical watching Danny eat two ice cream cones at the same time before they melted (a race he was quickly losing), but I attempted to place my focus squarely upon Gretchen, daintily licking at her nice cream (which was offered in only one flavor: vanilla-banana).

“If you don’t mind me asking,” I began, “how old are you?”

“I’m 23 now, I think? I was lost for a long time so I guess I missed my birthday this year.”

Danny quirked one perfect dark eyebrow at me over his chocolate-dipped cones and I gave him a _hush now_ look in reply.

“How long had you been there, at the house?”

She wrinkled her nose. “A year? I remember thinking I was in so much trouble because I missed my final semester. But how could I leave them, you know? Josh and Jake called us their muses, all the girls.”

Her voice had a girlish lilt and her mannerisms were also those of someone much younger because her brain was **still** 23\. She might look in the mirror and behold the person she knew herself to be. With no one to tell her otherwise, the saying _it’s all in your head_ was totally true.

Danny started to say something, but I stopped him with a wave of my hand. I wanted to let her down easy, if I could. 

“When Danny’s not at the house,” I said, “it’s hard for him to remember who’s who. There’s so many people there.”

She looked hurt, but shrugged. “I’ve been gone a long time, I guess.”

“How long have you been out -”

_(of the warp)_

“ - of the forest?”

She scrunched her face again, pondering. “About a month? When the Forest Management guys found me they said I was in pretty bad shape, so I had to be hospitalized for a few weeks.”

“How did you get lost to begin with?”

She took another lick and made a _mmm_ sound. “This is really good.”

I nodded and had another bite of my cookies and cream. “It’s nice to give yourself a treat every now and then.”

Danny was licking at his sticky smeared hands and arms and - _Focus, damnit!_ \- I wondered if she was suffering the same internal distraction, to behold Danny here in the world where she could really _see_ him. Because even in the mundane he was beautiful. But he would have to be, to catch the eye of a being generally known for the ultimate ruination of our kind.

I looked back at Gretchen and she was also observing Danny but trying not to be obvious about it. “I liked to go for walks, by myself, because there are so many people there - you couldn’t ever really be alone.”

I nodded sympathetically.

“And one time I was walking and I heard something. It scared me and I ran off, but then when I tried to find my way back to the house, I couldn’t. I kept trying but after a while I realized I was totally lost and then -”

The tears slipped down her nose and into the dregs of her nice cream.

“It was hopeless. I thought I was going to die out there, even though I kept finding things to eat, and water to drink.”

_(We don’t hurt people.)_

“I’m so sorry that happened to you, it must have been totally scary.”

She nodded, wiping at her face.

“So why are you here? Are you from around here?”

Gretchen sighed before spooning the last of her snack into her mouth. I let the answers come as they might. “No, I’m from Ohio. But I don’t want to go back there. I told the police to call my parents, tell them I was alive, but I wasn’t leaving. They kept saying, ‘Your _parents_?’ They thought I was crazy, they actually wanted to commit me for observation. But I walked out before they could do that, and hitched my way up here again.”

I turned to Danny. “Why don’t you load up the car with whatever’s left, okay?” He nodded and got up from the table.

“He really doesn’t remember me?” she said, in a near-whisper, watching Danny walk back into the store.

I shook my head. “I know this is gonna be hard, but just hear me out, okay? Please.”

Gretchen shrugged as she crunched the last of her cone.

“First of all, let’s go to the restroom and wash up - ice cream is delicious, but messy.”

I asked her to look in the mirror over the sink and I gazed at it as well, trying to see what she saw. Her reflection wavered in my sight, but I caught glimpses of her honey-blonde hair and smooth tanned skin with just a slight dusting of freckles. When we came back outside I led her over to the table again.

“This is hard to explain, it sounds crazy, but...you know about the vortex, right? The one in the woods around here.”

Gretchen nodded.

“Okay so, it’s a real thing. And what it does, basically, is distorts physical reality. So anything that’s inside of it is not going to act according to the physical laws we know. That house you stayed at, it’s inside of the vortex, but it’s also inside of something else.”

“What?”

I swallowed, and took a breath. “The Summerlands.”

“Huh?”

“Faery. The Keweenaw Vortex has somehow intersected with the Summerlands. Maybe it was just an accident, maybe not.”

She bit her lip, and it looked like she _wanted_ to believe what I was saying, at the very least.

“When we were in the bathroom and you looked in the mirror, you recognized yourself, right?”

“Well yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

“Man-made mirrors, they lie. As Bob Dylan once said, the only true mirror is a puddle of water.”

“Mirrors are used in science and stuff; it’s an object, how can it _lie_?”

I sighed. “Maybe that was a poor choice of words. It _distorts_. You have emerged from another distinctly separate physical reality and so any mirror in this world will not show you the truth.”

“So what -”

There was an old-fashioned water pump located at the back of the store and as happened with such things, a puddle of standing water had formed beneath it. I led Gretchen over to the puddle, holding her tightly. I figured her reaction would be either to collapse or flee. We looked at our silver-toned reflection set against a backdrop of gray-blue cloudy sky. I felt her jerk in my grasp.

“No -”

“That’s why the police thought you were crazy, Gretchen. You were acting like the person you _know_ you are, but not the person they were looking at. It’s why Danny can’t recognize you.”

“How old -” she gasped.

“I don't know for sure, but I'd say you’re 53 now, in this world.”

I drove us back down that wild path and once I parked in the clearing outside of the grove, we sat in the car as I explained to Danny what had happened to Gretchen. His forehead furrowed as he tried to understand it.

“But why hasn’t it happened to me?” he asked. “I’ve been there - _I don’t even know_ how long now.”

“They’ve done something to ensure it won’t. They’re very powerful, and they can use that power in the warp in a way they can’t in Faery. They’re not even supposed to be in the Summerlands. But it’s a total distortion - anyone else who tries to leave is subject to harm, in some way.”

“Why didn’t it happen to you? You didn’t lose any time!”

“I **did** , I’m sure, but not as much as if I had just gone under the hill and then was released. I came with you, for one thing. Who said I couldn’t leave without you?”

“Josh.”

“He knows that whatever magic is in you now would likely be enough to keep us both in a similar state. But also, I’m damned, so whatever happens in the warp doesn’t affect me the same way. That’s why the trolls sent me.”

Gretchen had run away, tore herself from my grasp and stumbled across the lot, crying and insisting that I was tricking her, that I was the one who was magical and had cursed her somehow. My heart ached to view her agonized confusion, it made me think of that famous poem about what happens to those who return from enchantment -

_And on thy cheeks a fading rose_  
_Fast withereth too._

\- when linear time comes up against Eternity, humans will always lose.

“You won’t be able to find it again!” I shouted after her. “Once you leave the Summerlands you can’t go back! You’re already tainted by the human world!”

I had a likely future vision of Gretchen: mad and grieving and lost in time. It was wholly tragic, because I had glimpsed her potential, which was now squandered forever. I wished there was something I could do to help her, but as the deliverer of bad news I was now the scapegoat.

“Daniel, do you understand what I’ve been saying now? Any one of those kids, if they tried to leave, that’s what would happen to them.”

“Why would anybody _want_ to leave?” he asked, puzzled, as if that was the most ridiculous suggestion ever made.


	9. A love beyond Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of revelation, revelry and regret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is where the sex comes in (and I've changed the rating accordingly) - both het and slash - and so it's up to you; I will say the slash is in the last part, after the section where Savannah falls asleep the first time. It's not outright smut but for those who don't want slash in their GVF fanfic then that's where you should stop in this chapter. But the romance between Sam and Danny is very much at the heart of the narrative overall so it's rather difficult to overlook. TBH that is one of the reasons I wasn't sure how well this story would go over; so my deep gratitude goes to those who are sticking with it and enjoying it.
> 
> Also, the song referenced in this chapter is indeed a version of "Thunderstomp." I took some liberties because Josh's lyrics are mainly incomprehensible to me even now.

_“Arise.”_

I opened my eyes and half-expected to find remnants of the previous night strewn about the room (this room they had allowed me to call my own), but all I saw was Danny beside me in the bed, enjoying the sleep of one who is treasured and adored. His skin glowed faintly. I imagined Sam ensured Danny had all the _nicest_ dreams.

Ah...last night. Should I get to that _before_ or _after_ my summons from Josh? Well, I’ll just begin by noting that I was naked. And I actually remembered _why_ this time. What I really wanted to do was lie there and stare at Danny for a while, but I supposed it wouldn’t do to keep Mab’s favorite waiting...especially as it seemed it was _his_ largesse I was currently enjoying.

I pulled on the nightgown (I was really going to have to convince Danny that pajamas could be just as pretty) and brushed my hair before leaving the room. Danny slept on and I placed a feather-light kiss on his forehead.

“Oh you’ve _earned_ this snooze, boy,” I whispered.

Josh was such a showoff - the minute I opened the door I was instantly transported to his location. Sparkling stones laid a path through a paradisiacal garden. Ye Gods it was _beautiful_.

The forest ringed the clearing, but the immediate landscape held every kind of fruit tree and thicket, dozens of flowers, soft green grass, beehives, climbing ivy and flowering vines, a pond filled with colorful koi, butterflies and dragonflies hovered above it all, sunlight pouring down from that deep blue sky much like the secret apicultural alchemy, filled with glittering sparkles suspended within the air. And of course the constant distant music sounding loud enough to be discerned but it was more like the _whoosh_ of the surf or cars on the highway. I could also hear birdsong of various types.

“Wow” was all I could manage to say.

Josh was... **WOW**...like a living column of light, walking sunshine. His beauty, his power, his radiance - it was _magnificent_. I realized he was allowing me to truly _see_ him, all possible glamour abandoned. Then he stepped up to me and his aura dimmed, somewhat. A glimmer remained, but I was no longer totally stunned into awestruck silence.

“This is a sacred place,” he informed me, his voice low and gentle. “It sustains me.”

I decided to test how extensive his power was in this place.

 _Sustained in your exile?_ I thought at him. _Not all are as lucky as you to have found a loophole._

I considered my poor Poms, forever separated from his beloved homeland, the splendor of the enchanted forest which I was now experiencing. He liked to say he was well-shut of the Court and its endless intrigues, but I had seen him looking out his shop window with wistful regret and homesickness at the city which now served as the place of his banishment.

Those lovely deep amber eyes narrowed. _Bingo._

“What do you actually _know_ of such things? You and all your ancestors were naught but dust whence I was driven out of Mab’s icy bower.”

I bowed my head in respect. “How are we conducting this conversation? Am I speaking to Joshua, the blessed favorite of the Queen of Air and Darkness, the Terror of the Nine Kingdoms, and the Voice Beyond All Time? Or is it Josh, adored by his many followers, and Siren of a New Age?”

“My past is as dead as any relic from those long-ago ages. But this is all I am.”

I had an inkling of where our conversation _should_ go, but there was little to be gained from us beginning as adversaries.

“Show me your garden, please.”

Josh led me through the tangles, and I could feel the energy of the vortex, strength flowing into my body from the ground, warm and soft beneath our feet.

“Eat what you like,” he offered with a wave of his hand. “You are welcome to partake of this bounty.”

I plucked a blackberry from an adjacent bramble, but there were no thorns to bar my trespass. It was plump, heavily ripe, a purple so deep it was nearly black, and tasted like nothing on Earth. I have always loved the flavor of blackberries because they make me think of fantastical realms: delicate, sweetly tart but also with just a suggestion of floweriness. But _this_ was a taste of **the** magic. The vibration and form of my subtle body was suffused with utter joy which moved me to tears. It felt like an echo of the innocence I had lost.

I could feel...what it was like **not** to be damned. I breathed, I felt my heart beat within this frail faulty cage of consciousness - how ridiculous humans were, compared with how we thought of ourselves.

But I also felt _love_ , a love beyond Love, and I looked over at Josh. He smiled at me and it felt like the Sun shining directly upon my face.

“I really do love you, you know. _All_ of you.”

I nodded, but in that moment of blessed blissful redemption I found myself wondering what the cost would be for this kind of arrogance...and when would it be demanded. I snapped my fingers in sudden epiphany.

“The warp! They _can’t_ actually **see** you. It’s not that they’re **not** paying attention, they don’t even know you’re here.”

Josh said nothing, but his smile had turned enigmatic. The Sun went behind a cloud and I felt myself turn cold. Cold as the day his queen had sent him away from her favor.

I blinked and found myself back in my room.

_Now you think about what you’ve done!_

I had to laugh, even though I was afraid again. The distracting bliss of all that over-indulgent activity from last night was now dissipated. Ah well…

But so had the moment of weightless joy. **That** made me want to cry.

Danny was still asleep so I returned to bed and smiled to myself, recalling the previous night...

We were like heroes returning from a quest, the arrival of the pasties had all human visitors salivating. Which _of course_ they would be because they were _starving_ , even if they didn’t realize it. But before the food could be enjoyed we were informed that the evening’s revel would begin with a performance.

“Is it finally time?” I asked Danny. "For the _last_ revel?”

“This is how it happens every time,” Danny replied. “I bring the food and then we play and they dance, for a long time, and then we eat.”

“And then?”

“That goes on for a long time too.”

“ _Everybody_ gets fed, yeah I get it.” I looked up to see Danny blushing, and I smirked. “Oh, and **you** are the literal food too, of course.”

“It’s not like _that_!”

“Isn’t it?” But I reined myself in - I honestly didn’t want to hurt Danny’s feelings. “Do you know about agape?”

“It means love, doesn’t it?”

“It’s also a word for feast. Both could be considered a kind of sacrifice. But does Josh love his enemies as much as his neighbors?” I waved my hand to indicate all those standing around us.

“You’re making my head hurt again,” Danny said with a faint whine. “And the smell of those pasties is driving me crazy!” 

I sighed and patted his arm. “Sorry; well okay then, let’s party!”

We all walked into the forest along a well-trod path, and the further we traveled, the closer the trees became, all but blocking out the sky. There were flashes of light from between the trees, and in the air above those meadows we passed. I felt the presence of a million fae, their eyes upon us (surely an exaggeration, but I did wonder how many creatures were trapped in this warp along with the band). Considerations of time, distance and fatigue were meaningless - I probably could have walked forever, Danny holding my hand and offering a smile every time I looked up at him. We came out from the treeline and arrived at a natural amphitheatre set into the side of a foothill. I wondered if it reprised a place where Josh had performed long ages ago. Danny kissed the top of my head and left me to enter with the crowd, the four of them moving ahead to ready themselves for the performance.

It was now the magic hour - suspended between sunset and dusk - when the sky is glowing deeply and the shadows lengthen. My favorite time of day. When the sun sinks I want to walk through a lush garden and into a shady house, to find someone waiting for me with something deliciously cool to drink. Then we might venture outside again to watch the glow recede and the night unfold.

Lost in my musings I hadn’t noticed the band take the stage; all set up with amps, microphones, effects and vintage instruments. I heard the _thump_ of Danny’s bass drum and looked up. Given the shape of the space everyone had a good view, and they were employing obvious magic to illuminate their performance, along the lines of modern stage lighting. They each wore a kind of boho outfit - Danny was hardest to spot, of course, behind the drums, but he had on a brightly-colored vest embroidered with metallic thread which glittered when the spotlight hit him. Jake was fashioned similarly but in a close-fitting and cropped black velvet jacket paired with tight pants featuring silver piping. His Chelsea boots mimicked the lush nap of his outfit in smooth brushed suede. Sam wore a silky blousy flower-patterned overshirt, his torso adorned only by an ornate broad-collar style necklace of various types of chains and stones, and pants similar to Jake’s but without decorative filigree. His feet were bare. And all their luscious locks were shining, hanging in perfect waves to frame the heartstopping beauty of those faces we had been longing to behold.

The three briefly warmed up with a flurry of instrumental modulation, making certain they were tuned correctly, paradiddles and riffs and runs. And the volley of whoops, whistles, cheers and cries of the crowd were equal to this sudden burst of amplification.

_Warp or no warp, I bet they can hear **this** in the Summerlands._

It seemed we all took a breath and then they began, their electrified harmony crashing down and sweeping us away.

Hearing their recorded music versus witnessing it in the moment - there was truly no comparison.

Their collective power and ability and sheer will to unite in this artform, I was caught up in it instantaneously, as was every single person present. We rose to our feet and screamed ourselves hoarse and danced.

And then it seemed as if Josh simply appeared there at the front of the stage, shining as I had seen him shine back...whenever that was. It felt like years had passed since that moment in the garden. The Sun God. He wore a beautifully-crafted vest and pants set of deep crimson trimmed in gold, embroidered with white roses. Like his youngest brother he was barefoot and as Warren Zevon had once proclaimed, _his hair was perfect_. Nearly shoulder-length brown-blond curls forming a perfectly tousled halo around that fascinating face, his smile seemed to penetrate our hearts all at the same time and we screamed again. His charisma was too much to bear in that moment, and then he opened his mouth and his song erased everything we had ever known.

I thought I might expire, from being in the same space as _that **voice**_. Somewhere in the back of my mind I tried to imagine all those who had ever heard it and lived. Haunted forever, they had to be, by that singular sound.

 _Why had he hid this from me before?_ I wondered. Perhaps it was merely a survival skill, so many centuries past the peak of his legendary favor. But here in this occluded enclave, he could enthrall us with the full force of his entanglement - and we were _his_ now.

 _Why would anybody **want** to leave?_ Danny had asked, and I understood. It wasn’t merely his bond, or his love for those three which kept him close and committed, but he was as tightly tied as Odysseus to the mast of his ship as he sailed through dangerous straits.

What was that couplet? From some Radiohead song?  
_There’s always a siren_  
_singing you to shipwreck._  
And it made for a pretty metaphor, but to actually experience such a thing? Rilke must have known too -  
_For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror_  
_which we are barely able to endure, and it amazes us so,_  
_because it serenely disdains to destroy us._  
_Every angel is terrible._

Maybe Mab actually feared her darling Joshua, she felt her tyrannical grip slipping to hear his voice, that voice beyond all voices. Because it did provoke a desire for annihilation even as it also granted the greatest ecstasy. And so she did what she had to, to keep her throne and whatever passed for sanity among the Fae.

_(We don’t hurt people.)_

Okay sure, maybe you didn’t _want_ to hurt people - Joshua, Jacob and Samuel - but as sirens you **were** created to destroy them. So where does it stop, if you’re not actually singing us to shipwreck? Does it? Or does it just happen at some later date? The song and the sight of you eventually driving us mad.

I also understood why they referred to this as a _revel_. It **was** a feast, but we were _all_ food - their music, our reaction, their love, our adoration.

And the love they had for _each other_ , that was also something so beautiful. It allowed them to create this music.

There was a particular song I remembered because it went on for so long - we’re talking jam band epic proportions of long - and it was built in part on a repeating pattern of Jake’s, a chord sequence so compelling I could have listened to it for _years_. 

(I can hear it perfectly, right now, in my head.)

_Odin’s fire is rising, there’s thunder up above_  
_there is danger on the wind, but I will give you love_  
_a darkness is coming, from over yon hills_  
_take my hand and walk this path, we’ll find shelter from the chill, oh -_

A midsection arrived where they drifted into a rock version of a bolero-like structure (or that’s how it seemed to me, as I don’t possess a surfeit of knowledge on musical forms) and it slithered and swirled around us, sensual and sinuous. The song itself wasn’t particularly sexual but the way they performed this part was meant to put you in mind of such things: the patient dance of coupling, the slow but steady journey towards mutual satisfaction. It built, bit-by-bit, as they watched each other, communicating in both an instinctual and purposeful fashion, and it felt tribal - as in we, the tribe, were meant to lend this effort our energy to help it grow.

I danced as I have never danced, and I’ve witnessed enchanted music before. You can’t ever stop yourself from dancing but this was... _different_. I don’t know if I can quite articulate how compelling it was for me to sway and undulate and shake and twirl and do all those things one does in an ecstatic kind of dance. We didn’t need drugs, **they** were the drug. The music they made was the thing which revealed the world as something beyond what we thought we knew.

 _Find the light_ , Josh kept exclaiming as if he were equally possessed rather than the root of our collective possession.

The music was rising and dropping off, pushing forward and pulling back, it was exquisite torture; I wanted it to explode, to be resolved, but I also wanted to ride this groove forever. Like when your lover is mischievously playful, edging you until you’re screaming _let me come now!_

A part of my brain knew this was coercion but when you’re **in** it you can’t apprehend the force, you can only rock the thrall.

Then a fall into near-silence, Danny counting off the beat with his hi-hat, followed by the _snap_ of his snare and the _crunch_ of Jake’s chord leading back into the main body of the song which made us all scream again. Every part of me was pulsing with the release. I’ve had probably more than my fair share of amazing magical sex in my time on Earth and this was so much _better_. They were _so good_ at what they did, because it was their birthright but also because they cared about how they were communicating with us through the music. I thought of Gretchen again, now outside of this ecstasy. It must be so awful to remember it but know you’d probably never feel it again. And all that remained was to dash yourself upon the nearest rock.

I cried for her, but my tears were also prompted by the beauty of everything in that moment.

As all which lay within the warp could stretch and fold as the sirens willed it, we didn’t have far to go to return to the house after the performance. Everyone had been wrung dry, and fell upon the food as you would expect people who were starving to do. But it only took one pasty to fill me up again, and I considered it a useful effect of the place; otherwise it would be very difficult indeed to keep all these people fed for real. Danny and I ate like messy toddlers and made embarrassingly loud sounds of gustatory satisfaction. I licked gravy from his chin and he ate a stray flake of pastry off the tip of my nose. And then after the real food came the fae delights, spread along a large banquet table, everything entirely tempting to the eye as well as the nose and the mouth.

“Ye Gods, it looks like a unicorn threw up on this table,” I cracked, looking at all the rainbows and glitter and sparkles and flowers.

“This is my favorite,” Danny said, picking up one of many glasses filled with a gelatin-like substance which shifted colors between green and blue and purple and was filled with tiny silvery stars that twinkled when you jiggled it. “Space jello!”

“Wow,” I giggled. He offered me a spoonful and it tasted cold like outer space might, but also with a kind of sweetness I’d never experienced. Something from the future when all we have left are the memories of flavors, and can only attempt to recreate them. There was something incredibly weird and incredibly compelling about its flavor. We shared it and I felt that fullness again after only a few bites.

_Was the Mark straining against the limits of my prohibitions?_

The sounds of intoxicated abandon grew exponentially as time went on, but of course I was only _perceiving_ linear progression, not experiencing it. Who knew - it could have been years, it could have been less than a second suspended within the distorting effects of the vortex. But Danny’s heartbeat was a clock for me, thump-thump-thumping away at the moments of this revelry.

“How long does the afterparty go on?” I asked him with a smirk.

He shrugged. “As long as they want it to, I guess.”

The brothers were each enjoying it, partaking of everything on offer save the human food. But especially the affections of their audience, running the gamut from shy doting to outright blatant lust. Everyone got a turn, a moment of recognition and attention, if they wanted it. I noticed some kept their distance and merely stared, but the staring fed their desire to look upon the Kiszkas without embarrassment or disapproval. And all were united in their outpouring of love, there was no rivalry or resentment toward the others.

“Amazing how they got them all to play nice,” I commented under my breath.

“Peace, love and unity,” Danny said, as if on cue.

It was a pithy slogan, and an optimistic one. But there was something about it which nagged at me all the same. The cynical bitch which shares my brain reminded me that utopian cults have always been doomed.

“It’s great and all, but there are two things I’d much rather do.”

“Yeah?” His smile was mischievous but his gaze was intensely focused solely upon me.

“Fuck you, and sleep for the next three years or so.”

“In that order?”

“ _Definitely_ in that order.”

Danny happily led me off to do just that, and I started counting off heartbeats in my head, wondering how long it would take Sam to notice that _his_ boy was getting climbed by someone else.

Sebastian - no slouch as a musician himself thanks to _his_ siren heritage - once told me that the greatest skill a drummer can possess is subtlety. Because everything about playing the drums drives you to the opposite impulse, to wail as hard as you can in tandem with your bandmates. You keep the time, yes, but you’re also providing the engine. And so to understand how to really listen to what is going on around you, and to know when to push hard or to lay back in the groove, or tread softly through the melodic landscape, that is when you’ve truly learned your job in the band. That is when you know how to serve the music above all.

I knew Danny possessed these qualities simply from hearing him play, but it’s like they were encoded directly into his body. He fucked me the very same way. Deep and booming, light and lithe, I was being played much as his entire kit and all I could do was hang on and try to stay conscious. But it was too much, my synapses firing like a Fourth of July display, nerve endings sizzling, reduced to moans and gasps and he just kept on...the living pulse of his body moving against mine. Not just a polyrhythm of penetration, but a symphony of tongue and teeth and fingers seeking to wring every ounce of bliss I could experience out of my trembling flesh.

And he _glowed_ , that gorgeous golden undertone of his skin accentuating the lush darkness of his hair and eyes, the pleasing shape of his entire body. I stroked that line of hair between his navel and his cock, a soft secret beneath my fingertips.

“You are so very special, so utterly beautiful,” I told him, and his smile was a lovely reward. I kissed him with gratitude and affection for all that he was as I slid into a fathomless plush void, and I could feel his heartbeat slowing to match mine as he held me against his precious skin, his priceless bones, rocking me in a motion I imagined we have all known but could never recall.

I slept but it didn’t feel it had been nearly long enough when I opened my eyes to see that Sam had indeed come along in search of what was his, and they were making love. I wondered if I should watch but hell, if they were going to do it right in front of me in this bed which was supposed to be mine, wasn’t that invitation enough? Just to watch, though, I imagined - it wasn’t _that_ kind of party.

I had honestly figured Sam for a pillow princess - there’s just something about him which screams _pamper and adore me always_ \- but he was on top, writhing upon those silken-sheathed muscles of Danny’s like he wanted to be ground to dust.

_just like the pixies_

And Danny gripped Sam’s sylph-like body hard, panting and groaning and his face was so full of adoration it pained me to witness his total surrender. Between each gasp he breathed the other’s name, between each moan he made a declaration of love. Sam’s beauty became all the more enthralling with every thrust, as Danny’s passion ignited like a series of solar flares. Sam reared up and pushed deep and Danny’s cry was on that keening edge of pleasure and pain. Tears coursed down his cheeks and Sam licked them up with an indulgent smile. They kissed, and that **did** feel too personal for me to observe, as they each opened to the other, kisses delicate and devouring and full of such overwhelming need.

“My beauty,” Sam murmured, “as you will always be, won’t you. **Mine.** ”

Danny said _yes_ so many times I lost count, and then the _kundalini_ now released from his subtle body surged over me, my eyes fluttering from the intensity of it, and I was plummeting into the abyss once more.

And now I stared at Danny’s sleeping face and understood that Sam loved him too much to ever let him go, and Danny was not only thoroughly entangled in the enterprise entire - whatever it _really_ was - but also in love, that type of hopelessly obsessed love which makes you feel like you can’t even breathe without the knowledge of the other in the world, by your side. Was it just the magic? It didn’t even matter now. The point of a siren was that you couldn’t ever forget them, you might only survive them.

And if nothing else, that kind of bond certainly made for one hell of a rhythm section.

“Oh Danny boy,” I whispered, his slumbering beauty prompting such an ache in me - the kind which means it hurts because you know you can’t truly possess it - “we are both _so fucked_ right now.”


	10. Your standard Coffeeshop AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam is an evil genius, obviously. Plus I'm totally shocked no one else has written this particular scenario yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oodles of thanks to helena_s_renn for providing me such beautifully tangible inspiration for this chapter (and those to come). This story is an example of _Be the fic you want to read on AO3_ and it means a lot to me that literally anyone else has enjoyed it, as I know it's rather an anomaly in the fandom.

I’d had enough of lying around feeling sorry for the both of us, so I set off in search of the kitchen and it probably wasn’t a good idea to wander around in this magical architecture without Danny to guide me, but I kept thinking about Sam, short of just stopping to ask aloud _Where **are** you anyway?!_ Finally I smelled coffee, whispered an exasperated _Thank you!_ and pulled open the nearest door.

Behind it lay a spacious room with polished wooden floors, a stone-hearth fireplace, many tables and chairs to accommodate a large group of people. The place was pretty much packed, a long counter occupied one corner of the room, and the Siren in question stood behind an industrial-size gleaming espresso machine, wreathed in steam and wearing his lovely tresses - _by the gods he had **gorgeous** hair_ \- coiled and pinned into a bun on the back of his head. I snickered at the scene, of all things I would have never expected to encounter your standard Coffeeshop AU.

Sam wore a freaking _apron_ , even.

A line stretched along that side of the room and I joined it. While I waited I observed the crowd. Without any tech to distract them, it amazed me to see people actually talking to each other, reading books, engaging in...crafts, I guess? Lots of knitting and embroidery, sketching, even macramé. When had _that_ become a thing again? Much petting of cats, there were a lot of cats around. One twined my ankles and gave me a particularly searching look. All cats everywhere know **exactly** what I am.

“What?!” I asked. “I’m just here for some coffee.” As if I was in the neighborhood and just dropped by. The cat gave me a pointed sniff - _yeah right_ \- and moved on.

I turned my attention to our barista. Sam was busily preparing espressos and lattes and if anyone requested anything more complicated he simply sprinkled some pixie dust into the cup and it transformed into their heart’s desire. A lot of people were ordering those Unicorn Frappucino things. Sam rolled his eyes at such whimsy but gave everyone exactly what they wanted. The line passed by a glass case full of Fae delights, all sparkling with magical sweetness. My stomach rumbled as we were hit by a sugary cloud of temptation.

A squadron of pixies hovered adjacent to Sam, obeying his raspy barked orders as well as the requests of his customers. A couple darted near my face and stopped mid-air. I couldn’t make out their tiny expressions but they radiated annoyance as the stone in my necklace flared bright green.

“I would like a chocolate croissant, please,” I requested.

One of the pixies nodded its head and the pastry appeared in my hand, wrapped in a cloth napkin. It was warm and smelled deliciously high-caloric.

“Thank you for your excellent service,” I said, giving a respectful nod.

They squeaked at me and flew onto the next person.

I ate as I waited, thinking I should save it for when I finally had some coffee, but I was too hungry. When at last I made it up to Sam I was licking melted chocolate off my fingers and thinking of Danny’s deep mocha eyes and the rest of his lusciousness...wanting to frost him like a cake with Nutella and then eat it off...Sam barked again, his throaty voice slicing through my salacious fantasy. 

“What’ll ya have?”

He looked annoyed to see me but still utterly stunning. _So unfair!_

“Coffee. Just coffee, please, room for cream.”

Sam drew a demitasse of espresso, set it on the counter, then made to sprinkle it with a pinch of pixie dust. I grabbed his wrist and he growled at me.

“ **Just coffee** ,” I repeated. “Are you telling me you don’t have a pot of coffee on?”

“That’s **my** coffee,” Sam insisted.

“Dude c’mon - be a good host!”

Sam rolled his eyes again and pulled off his apron. The pixies swarmed him.

“I’ll be back, just keep working like I showed you.”

They flew into various formations and took over, Sam pouring two cups of coffee from a nearby carafe. He gestured toward a pitcher beside it.

“It’s real dairy cream, but it’s in stasis, so it hasn’t gone bad yet.”

“Little-known benefit of the Keeweenaw Vortex?”

Sam shrugged and took a noisy slurp from his cup.

I added some cream and looked around for sugar. Finding none I snatched one of the pixies out of the air and gave it a shake. It squeaked in indignation as a tiny bit of dust floated into my cup. I blew on it and murmured “be sweet” as I stirred the liquid with my finger.

“So much for _just_ coffee,” my barista snarked.

“At least it’s not a goddamn Unicorn Frappucino,” I retorted. “So...can we talk?”

“Hey, I _allowed_ you to have what you wanted. What else is there to discuss?”

“Are you _kidding me_ right now with this bullshit? But I don’t think your honey trap worked quite the way you thought he would.”

“Wow.” Sam took another sip, his photo-worthy face looking bemused. “You are way more hardboiled than I thought you would be. Maybe it’s the nightgown that’s throwing me off.”

“You are going to _destroy_ the supposed love of your life. I think we **do** need to talk about _that_.”

“Don’t be so fucking melodramatic!” Sam hissed.

People were beginning to stare, so Sam waved his hand and a door appeared in the wall behind us. We went through it and walked into a part of the forest which looked particularly barren. The air shimmered and shifted, it felt heavy, like before a storm. Bands of yellow and green strobed in front of us, illuminated by the sun, an energy continually pulsing and rippling.

“Is this the warp?” I asked.

“It’s the edge of the vortex,” Sam replied. “The warp, as you call it, takes the energy of the vortex and stabilizes it, so we can inhabit this intersection.”

“The intersection of the vortex and the Summerlands.”

“Yes.”

“How did you do it?” I asked in wonder. I’d never seen anything like it.

“You’re looking at years of study - well, _human_ years, that is - it took me decades to figure out the mechanics of the human world, and then how could they be affected by magic and still remain stable.”

“Who are you hiding from? It’s not these kids - they know what you are.”

Sam remained silent, and he looked especially haughty as the colors played across those high cheekbones and perfect nose.

I gulped half my coffee and took a deep breath. “You’re just gonna let me stand here and figure it out for myself.”

“It’s not your concern.”

“Well here’s an unfortunate side effect of actually being here - I **am** concerned now. Are you planning to keep everyone here _forever_?”

“We’re going Home.”

“Samuel, I know about Josh being banished from the Court. You take one step into Faery proper from out of this hinterland you’ve created and you _will_ be slaughtered. You have to know that.”

“They can’t stop _all_ of us!”

I was speechless for a time, walking around in circles, finishing my coffee, clutching the cup as if it would keep me from losing my mind. The _arrogance_ , was it a family trait? Was it contagious like a virus? I had been joking to refer to this setup as a cult but just like Han Solo I was getting a bad feeling about this. I turned to face Sam but kept my distance.

“For someone smart enough to figure out how to do all this in the first place, to hide in as much plain sight as is possible from a magical standpoint, how can you be so fucking stupid?!” I demanded.

“I AM the brains of this outfit!” Sam yelled back. “This is a very delicate mechanism, do you know how much magic it takes to hold it in place?”

“An enormous amount I’m sure, but if you think your magic is the equal of the Unseelie Court then you **are** stupid, simple as that. I have witnessed the Wild Hunt, I _still_ have nightmares about it to this day.”

“Are there any twins in the Court?” Sam asked. Even as frustrated and angry as he was getting, his supermodel persona was _so distracting_. People were starting to come up the path toward us, I figured the brothers were akin to beacons, continuous signals broadcasting desire.

“What does that have to do with -”

**“Are there?!”**

“I don’t know!”

“Ah ha, you don’t know! **But I do.** ”

My mouth dropped open. After a few moments Sam stepped up and extended one of his long supple fingers, shutting it.

“So these kids don’t just wander off into the forest. You’re sending them out as _spies_?”

“Observers. I mean, that’s what _you’re_ doing, right? Observing for the trolls?”

He had me there.

“What happens to them?”

“You’re the detective, you tell me.” Sam widened his eyes in mock curiosity.

“They eventually get expelled, and they age, and nobody back in the world believes them.”

Sam spread his graceful hands as if to say _Well there you are._

“And what have your _observers_ told you?”

“That our plan may succeed after all.”

“Because Mab has no idea what is going on in here.”

Sam smirked again, this time with a touch of admiration in his gaze.

“How’d you figure that out?”

“It came to me a little while ago - nobody can see **me** either. I shouldn’t be able to be here, I shouldn’t be able to enjoy Fae hospitality or any of its effects. But I **can** , which means that no force Above or Below can find me, can observe my trespass and prohibit me, or punish me.”

“All the more reason to stay, then.”

A scream tore through the air. A girl had come up to the edge of the vortex and, mesmerized by the pretty colors, reached out to touch the membrane. As soon as she connected with all that power her body arched in pain. Sam quickly ran over and pulled her away from the spot. He carried her some distance and laid her gently upon the ground. He leaned over her with a calm smile, placing a hand upon her forehead and then her cheek. She gave a faint whine of pain and he spoke softly, too softly for me to hear, then her body glowed like a firefly for scant seconds. His expression changed by increments, lending his face even more beauty than I imagined could be possible. I thought of Danny seeing _that_ face for the first time, how he must have felt like he was falling, his heart plummeting, his entire body tingling to experience the full force of Sam’s entanglement. 

The girl sat up and nearly tackled Sam with a kiss. He kissed her in return, passionate and eager. They both flared brightly for a moment and then he slowly pulled back, as if he was sorry to let go. It hit me, in that moment of obvious longing, Sam was bestowing it upon _all_ of them, and how could anyone resist it? My mind began to drift into fantasies of that exquisite face and lithe body, silken hair...just to stare at him would be enough but I had seen what he was capable of sexually; I felt my pussy clench and drench and I nearly swooned.

Sam was _dangerous_ , but in a way which I didn’t believe anyone could avoid. To look upon his perfection was to lose all sense, common or otherwise. And what was worse, you probably wouldn’t mind.

He stood up and addressed the crowd.

“Do not - I repeat - DO NOT - go anywhere near the border! The power is too much for any human to withstand. Your touch will pollute it, cause it to weaken. We must protect the magic, and our sacred space.”

Everyone nodded. Sam waved a hand and they dispersed. I decided to follow the crowd, and Sam was too distracted by his damsel-in-distress to object. But we hadn’t talked about what was _really_ on my mind, and I was quite unsettled to consider that by now it was probably too late.


	11. Interlude:  metaphysical kaffeeklatsch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Coffee Talk, literally.

I wanted another cup of coffee, but fuck if I could find Sambucks again, or whatever the hell he was imagining that place to be. I was opening doors at random when one of them revealed itself to be my room, but in an area of the house I hadn’t seen before. And there he was, just as adorably delicious as ever. Danny had a vibe of being posed somehow, stretched out on the bed, long-limbed and strapping, looking like a whole-ass snack, as my favorite barmaid was fond of saying. Every unclothed inch of him was just perfect.

He was _eating grapes_ , fer chrissakes. What was Sam trying to tell me? Or was it merely a taunt.

_Look on my Beauty, ye Dumbass and despair! Because you are never hitting this again._

I won’t lie, I kind of lost it in that moment. Likely from the cumulative effects of sleep deprivation and starvation, and crispy around the edges after being so close to such heavy magic - totally _scrambled_ for sure. I mean, this is _exactly_ what cults do to break people down. I slid to the floor, pulled off my nightgown, and cried. Danny was there in seconds to pick me up and bring me over to the bed.

“Sssh,” he murmured, rocking me in the sturdy basket of his limbs. “I’m here to protect you, remember?”

This made me sob even harder. He didn’t know. He just didn’t know. He was a Good Boy who thought he was doing a Good Thing and he didn’t know they were all goddamn fucking **doomed**.

“Do you want a grape?” he asked. “They taste like cotton candy.”

I nodded and he fed me one. He rocked me and I relaxed in that moment, finally, surrounded by sweetness.

“Is it okay if I tell you I love you?” I asked him.

Danny smiled. “Well yeah, I love you too. That’s what it’s all about.”

Now if anything about this enterprise they’ve created was good, and true, and pure, it was that. A simple admission of the one element people need to exist in a society. Not necessarily romantic love, but care and empathy and respect and the recognition that we are all connected. That’s what I felt. A sliver of utopia, a feeling like looking up at a perfect sky, and believing it could go on forever.

_Well you did manage **that** , Joshie, I’ll admit it. You do have the power._

I clung to Danny like a liferaft, his heartbeat lulling me to sleep.

When I woke up again I was alone, Danny had laid my nightgown at the foot of the bed. There was a cup of coffee on the nightstand. I smiled. I got up and dressed myself, attempted some kind of composure, propped up the pillows and took a few sips before pricking my finger with the edge of my pendant and squeezing a drop of blood into the cup. It was time for a metaphysical _kaffeeklatsch_ with my wayward partner.

“I seek you across the form which has no form,” I intoned. “Sebastian Alastar, bound to respond to my call, hear me now.”

I stirred the liquid, hoping it was enough to reach through the vortex, waiting for the ripples to resolve into the image of the always-enthralling Sebastian, wherever he was. After a few moments his face floated into view.

“About fucking time! Where have you been?” he demanded.

I laughed, trying to keep the sound out of the realm of hysteria. “I’ve been busy.”

“Are you wearing a _nightgown_?”

“It’s a long story.” I examined what I could see of his surroundings. He was, as usual, naked in someone’s bed, hair artfully mussed in a just-fucked sort of way. “Oooh, nice boudoir.”

“Don’t deflect.” He sat back and lit a cigarette. “So what’s happening?”

“Let me hit you with a hypothetical.”

He exhaled a swirling cloud of smoke and gave me a bemused pout. “I’m listening.”

“Let’s say that Mab kicked you out of the Unseelie Court for...something. Doesn’t matter what. But you want to go back. Is there any way that you could?”

Bast gave me a _Are you crazy?_ look. “I s’pose if you wanted to _die_ trying, sure. Or plead your case in the five seconds before she had you ripped limb from limb. But do you mean is there any formal way of seeking forgiveness or consideration of readmission?”

“Uh...yeah, sure.”

“Not that I’m aware. Short of starting a war, which wouldn’t even **be** a war, of course, I dunno what you’d do.”

“Yeah I figured. This is so crazy, I just...I don’t even know.”

“Savannah, you’re freaking me out, as you like to say. And I _don’t_ like it. What is going on?!”

“This place, it’s inside of a very powerful vortex. And it was created by three sirens, two of whom are twins.”

“Twins? Forces above and below, why didn’t you say that to begin with?!”

“Okay, I get that they form a loop but honestly, what is the big fucking deal -”

“Think about it, Savvy: eternal recursion. Magic which feeds on itself. Perpetual motion, if you will.”

“So no matter what you threw at it you couldn’t stop it?”

“The only way you could is to destroy one, or both, of them. Twins are usually executed in the Court as soon as they’re born.”

“And they weren’t born into it, so -” I murmured to myself.

“ _Who_ wasn’t?”

“Oh my stars, that’s what happened!” I exclaimed, sitting up straight and sloshing the cup of coffee. I yelped at the burning sensation on my chest. “Mab found out Joshua was a twin! And she feared him even _separated_ from his brother! But she couldn’t bring herself to destroy him because she loved him too.”

“Okay you have **got** to explain this!”

“Three sirens, two are twins. One is like a mad scientist. Joshua, the favorite, served in the Court. Mab wanted a pet siren of her very own, it seems. But at some point in his service she found out he was a twin. And he loves humans, which meant...he had rejected his identity, I guess? So he was dangerous, and she banished him. They came to the human world and all he wanted to do was to figure out how to get back. He calls it Home, even though he wasn’t born in Faery.”

“Odd for a monster to be so obsessed with _anything_.”

“Is that what they are? I thought sirens were demons?”

“It all depends on who’s writing the story. I s’pose it’s rather more a case of _neither brute nor human_ , so to speak.”

“I think he really believes he’s fae.”

“Well then he’s not doing this out of love, but anger. He wants what he thinks is his.”

“ _It’s a thin line, between love and hate_ ,” I sang to my partner.

“You ain’t kiddin,’ kiddo. And you’re in the middle of it all?”

“Oh _where else_ would I be, c’mon!”

Sebastian chuckled. “True.”

“But here’s the problem: they’ve got, like, an army of humans with them. Not a real army, just a bunch of young people who are here because these are sirens who decided to form a rock band -”

“Because _why not_?” Sebastian gibed.

“ - and fans become followers at some point, especially with this kind of power compelling them. Sam - he’s the mad scientist one - told me, ‘They can’t stop us all!’ and so I guess they’re just going to _invade_?”

"You keep saying these sirens are so powerful, but how?"

"Besides the twins thing you mean?"

"Yeah."

"Well in a metaphysical sense, one is, like, the sun god of some ancient cult, one is a legitimate satyr, and the other is basically a supermodel."

"So they're prettier than me?"

I rolled my eyes. Bast was so typical of _La Bête Fatale_ \- always had to be the most tempting thing in the room.

"They're sirens, dude, their whole purpose is to trap people."

“But they’re not killing them, so... _why_?”

“Can’t blame water for being wet,” I replied. It was what passed for an old joke between us, in acknowledgement of Sebastian’s own considerable powers of enthrallment.

“Well you can’t just _invade_ the Summerlands - it’s never happened, not since, I dunno, the travails of the _daoine sídhe_ , thousands of years before the arrival of that also-ran.”

“Look, I don’t care what they do, I truly don’t. But these people, they’re going to _die_ , probably.”

“But if they **want** to -”

“They’re _entangled_. They can’t decide for themselves anymore. And one of them -” My voice cracked with a sob on that designation.

Sebastian stared at me as hard as he could through the medium of brewed beverage. “Uh-oh.”

“One of them is _so sweet_ -”

“Savvy, c’mon, pull yourself together. What have you been doing, you don’t normally crack like this.”

“Okay so this warp thingie that Sam created -”

“Mad scientist?”

“And supermodel. Yeah, so, it’s a way for them to hide from **everybody** , except that the trolls noticed something weird was happening over time. People started telling stories which no one believed but the trolls. So...yeah I’m strung out on pixie dust and a magically-enhanced enchanted human who is some kind of living pulse because I can do what I want here and _it’s all a bit much right now_ , I gotta say.”

“By the pantheon, Savannah, do you realize what kind of trouble you’re in? You might get sent to the Pit **immediately** when you come back!”

“ _If_ I come back. I don’t know if I can, or if they’ll let me.”

“Or, are you saying _you_ don’t want to leave him - the human.”

I sobbed again. “He’s such a Good Boy, Bast. I can’t -”

Tears dripped into the cup and our connection was severed immediately.

Sebastian was right, though. I needed to get a grip, and fast. I had that feeling, prickling on the back of my neck, a storm warning. The beginning of the end.


	12. The Middle Child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ronnie is living her best life...sorta, and Savannah invites herself to _that_ kind of party.

Now that I had a better understanding of Josh’s motivations I still found myself mostly stunned at his...ambition, maybe? How did he think he was going to get Mab to take him back, especially if he showed up with his twin. Was it a threat: _you can’t defeat me, so take me back as your consort_. I could picture Josh and Sam strategizing how it could be done; his siblings loved him enough that they would do their best to grant their big brother his heart’s desire.

But where did the rock band angle figure into it? Sure, it was an easy way to build this contradictory army, but it would have been just as easy to form a cult with Josh as the figurehead.

_Ah, wait a minute...sirens gotta sing._

I could imagine, say, Jake insisting that they ply their trade in the human world, arguing that their ability, along with the other magic they could access and amplify, would allow for the greatest intensity of engagement...to _entangle_ souls, but in love rather than obsession. Jake, whose playing was thoroughly enchanting on its own, full of passion and fire, technically enthralling but the emotion was what truly mattered. And catchy as hell, which was the greater portion of persuasion.

Jake was running the band, certainly, that made sense, but how important was the band in the grand scheme? Jake: wanting them to participate in the artform they were born to, Sam: discovering a living pulse in the human world, his desire to harness it but then falling in love with the human who embodied it...the aspiration had evolved into something beyond Josh’s original plan.

Not _everyone_ was expendable now.

But what I was worried about was the nature of Josh’s messianic complex - was his love a result of his belief that he could save humanity from itself? No entity had ever been able to accomplish it - history was littered with the legends of those who had tried. Humanity was _meant_ to be flawed. Divine beings - any God, all gods - would have no reason to exist otherwise. And that was the thing which any also-ran (as Sebastian was fond of calling certain historical personages) never seemed to understand - when you have tasted perfection, it all seemed _so clear_. And as he reclined on the reef and watched the ships venture forth, his fascination grew and grew, he was no longer merely a being of his own imperatives.

I _thought_ I understood. But there was only one other being who was possibly outside of all this who might be able to tell me whether or not I could stop this crazy scheme.

And as she was being difficult...she **had** to be the middle child.

I put on my clothes, which I had found stuffed in my backpack, and they were beginning to look seriously threadbare, took out the notebook and pen I always carried with me, and drew a spiral upon a blank page. I affixed two points upon the spiral at equidistant spots. One was meant to represent myself, and the other was Veronica. She was _here_ , somewhere, but highly unlikely to willingly tell me where. Next came my trusty pendulum, a clear quartz crystal which I had cleansed and charged prior to the trip - though I had no way of knowing how effective it was going to be within the vortex.

Without the nightgown I felt my brain was more _mine_ , in a manner of speaking.

I held the pendulum by its copper chain over the spiral, remaining as still as I could manage, concentrating on an image of Ronnie in my mind. I had no idea what she looked like so I imagined an amalgam of those Kiszka traits I had beheld: thick wavy brown hair with red lowlights, eyes which were maybe amber, maybe hazel, a wide smile and pleasing face...obviously from a thoroughly enchanting family of sirens. Not a fatal beauty, but one which welcomed notice and rewarded it with equal attention.

Although all I had heard of her voice was scolding and taunting, I tried to imagine what it would sound like if she held the same power as her brothers, focused my Will on connecting with her wherever she was in this space. I figured she would ignore a direct plea so I tried instead to find her on the astral. I watched the crystal move in ever-widening circles. I could begin to envision a place, though not specifically in the house. Of course the house itself was one big maze, anything could be anywhere - you either knew where something was or you didn’t. You could only know if you were _allowed_ to know. So what I was seeing was the somewhere which the house could lead me to. The spinning turned into a swinging, back-and-forth between the points I had drawn. Honing in, those feelings of a place: the sound of the ocean, the air thick with humidity and the scent of salty sulphury life in all its permutations.

I could hear her...an echo of her power, as if from far off. 

That atavistic reaction to hearing something you know you should not be able to hear when you are far from any shore. Surrounded by the unfathomable void. A scene to scour your senses clean, all that blue, when you can’t tell sky from sea, up from down. Seemingly lost, waiting for the stars to reappear as they are all you have to steer by. And then…

...the song rises from the deep and there is nothing else.

It assaulted me, and I tumbled from the bed, shrieking, even as I couldn’t hear myself. There was nothing else, no room in my brain for anything but the song. I crawled, agonizingly slow, to the door. Clawing at the knob, so slippery, the air so heavy, finally managing to wrench it open, and the light of that unsheltered sun, the dazzling reflection of the sea, blinded me. One hand fell upon silken sand and the song ceased, absolute silence replacing it. I dragged myself over the threshold with a scream I could feel in my throat, wetness running down my neck.

_Are my ears bleeding?_

My eyes adjusted to the glare, I was huddled on a beach looking out at a reef several yards distant. Someone turned to look at me, annoyed, and sound seeped back into my brain by increments: the waves upon the sand, the seabirds all squawk and giggle, a distant shanty chanted as sailors labored and feared what they knew to be waiting for them.

Not only that voice which destroyed their senses, but the beautiful vessel which housed it.

And even annoyed, as she clearly was with my intrusion, she still looked stunning. In every sense of the word. That same face, but with an undeniable feminine allure which hit me like one of those waves crashing down. If her brothers were _devastating_ , she was _decimating_.

“Well meddler, what is it you want?” she snapped.

I sat there for several seconds, trying to remember how to breathe and speak and whatever else it was I did...who was I, again? She called me meddler...oh yes, okay. I swallowed and sighed and ordered my brain to function again. It obeyed, but I felt so glitchy.

“Veronica,” I began, my voice sounding like I’d gargled with glass.

“Nobody calls me that!” she snapped again.

“Ronnie - do you know what your brothers are planning to do?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes, swung around and slipped off the rock into the water with the most fluid of motions, like she was part selkie. I mean, she _could_ have been, what did I know? Within seconds she was popping back up in the surf and walking onto the shore. She gathered her long dark hair into her hands and squeezed out the water.

“Why do you think I said they should send you back? And now you’re in this mess good and proper, aren’t you?”

I nodded. I felt the best response was to collapse upon the sand, so that’s what I did.

“Our lives were once harmonious and purposeful. We sang, as we were made to do, and our song relieved the cares of the mortal world, welcoming those souls which encountered us to the deep, in the service of Panthalassa.”

“And then Josh was...enlisted? Taken?”

“Caught in a net, as if an animal! But once they knew what they had, and fearing our collective wrath, they gave him a choice.”

“And he chose the Court, and chose to hide his identity.”

Ronnie nodded her head. “Jake cried for so many cycles of the moon, the sound of it made the fish die, and the whales beach themselves. We _all_ mourned, but his cries were unceasing.”

“It must have been awful, as though he were only a shadow.”

“Yes he pined always, until the day when Josh was returned to us, and their reunion was joyous.”

“Returned _alive_ , that is the greatest part of it.”

“He forbade us to speak of it, the circumstances of his exile.”

My mind kept drifting to find the horizon, out there. This wasn’t real, but it felt like it _should_ be.

“Where are we?” I inquired, my voice not much louder than the sound of the waves.

“ _This_ is Home,” she proclaimed, extending a graceful hand to gesture at the environs. “This is wherein we dwelt and for all those who ventured forth, full of dread but also dreadful fascination, they would meet our full measure, our voices joined in one glorious sound.”

“But we’re not actually _there_ now, are we? Does it still exist?”

“Does the Wall of Jericho not still stand? What a silly question! But Sam made it for me, he knows I cannot abide the human world.”

I was feeling more myself again, finally. “So **not** an annoying little brother.”

She gave me an arch look in reply. “Not _entirely_ , no.”

“Does Josh love Mab _because_ she spared his life?”

“That is how he knows she loves him, but his love is more of an ideal, I find. He only knows what she allowed him to know.”

I chuckled, drawing patterns in the sand with my fingertip. “Oh, I dunno, sounds like every dysfunctional relationship ever.”

Ronnie made a sound which could have meant any number of things. I chose not to ask.

“It’s in the songs, if you pay attention.”

She sang, but I could tell she was holding herself in check in order not to drive me mad once more, but there was a wild beauty she could not contain within her phrasing and intonation.

_Do you remember what I said_  
_when I got down on my knees?_  
_Gotta get your lovin', baby_  
_lovin's all I need!_  
_Don't make me beg now, baby_  
_don't make me bleed -_  
_I gave you all a man could give_  
_and you still walked out on me._

“But she didn’t kill him! Doesn’t he realize that’s not actually a rejection?!”

“Since when has Love ever had _anything_ to do with Reason?!”

“Well goddamn it - if he wants to shipwreck himself then all the better! But think of those _people_ , Ronnie, are they supposed to die for his love as well?”

“This is not suicide, it’s parlay.”

I shook my head. Ye Gods, I wasn’t going to get **any** of them to understand. “Humans en masse are only ever considered a threat to Faery. That is _exactly_ how they will be dealt with.”

“Sam has devised an engine of protection, and Josh and Jake will keep it in place. So that Josh may plight his throth with the Lady.”

“Mab is no lady, even as she may demand the title.”

Ronnie sighed, her hair rippled in the breeze. She was clad in sea foam and kelp and her wide eyes mirrored that shade, green-brown. The color of the sea in the farthest reaches.

“I **do** fear, but I am only the mad sister. They need my voice, and I am sworn. But I wish it were not so.”

“This engine -”

“The orb of Love.”

“Oooookay, that sounds suspiciously whimsical but sure, let’s just say such a thing is possible. Big enough to shield everyone?”

“All who are united in love.”

“They need your voice? Why?”

“One song to unite one people in love for all.”

I wanted to retort that it sounded like more fae bullshit but I held my tongue. These were admirable ideas which had no business being applied to human beings.

“Ah...no wonder I thought they were holding back. Entirely enthralling but the destructive impulse is nothing without you. **You** are the fulcrum!”

“I refused to perform with them but I did sing on the recordings. To aid the cause.”

“So there’s nothing I can do.”

“Leave now, while you still can.” She did look like she felt sorry for me. “I know you don’t want to leave, but you can’t save him.”

I felt myself crying again, a sob torn out of me, the tears blurring the sight of the sun and the sea, and we sat there for a time. Ronnie hummed to me softly, and it was a comforting sound.

I asked Ronnie to send me to the edge of the vortex. I meant to walk out, I truly did, looking for worn spots in its flux. It was night now, for some reason, and the energy reflected in shades of blue and white against the darkness. I walked slowly, close enough that I could feel it on my skin, crawling across my scalp, peering into the constantly shifting depths. And sure enough there were a few places where I could see the woods beyond clearly, as if through a window or a hole in a wall. I held my breath and stuck my hand though one of them, expecting I might be zapped but not hard enough to hurt me. The difference between the weight of the warp and the air of the mundane was so strange, like an actual change in gravity or something. But nothing happened. It might be like walking through mud, but I could do it. A thoroughly transparent spot like that meant that the weave around it was also weakened.

_Wait...if there are actual holes in this thing -_

**Oh shit.**

I ran, yelling a variation on my best incantation for finding something -

_Find for me what now I seek_  
_Undo that which seeks to hide_  
_This dwelling now stands against the tides_  
_And those special ones within abide._

I came through a copse of trees and there it was. I ran faster, as if the house might disappear just as suddenly. Up the steps, through the door, down the hallway. Now what? I tapped my foot and bit my lip. I felt a pinch in my sacral chakra. When you’re up for anything, all you have to do is advertise…

“What does a girl have to do to get fucked around here?” I said aloud.

I was praying - inasmuch as I might pray for anything - that Danny wouldn’t be the one to hear that question.

A moment later, a door opened further down the hallway and I knew that’s where the action was.

It was a full-on bacchanalia, like something out of the cult of Priapus. Decadence of every kind on offer, but I hadn’t seen an actual chain of bodies engaged in simultaneous intercourse like the one before me since...well, I guess since that time I had to come up against the Krewe of Pan who wanted to give the Pearl (the most infamous demonic brothel ever in any dimension) a run for its clientele. It was mesmerizing, watching all that flesh in motion. The air was thick with smoke, pheromones, food, booze and bodily fluids.

You tend to save that kind of effort for something important. But it wasn’t working, I reckoned.

“Jake,” I called out above the music, voices, and moans. “Might I have a word, please?”

He emerged from underneath other bodies within a nest of pillows, grabbing a nearby bottle of Jack and taking a healthy swig. He was naked and his perfection was as always completely enthralling. Once again he was pleased with my obvious admiration. Boy was _hung_ , and I know from well-endowed, trust me.

“Wow,” I said, which appeared to be the best I could do as a reaction to any of them. _Idiot, get a fucking grip._

“I thought you came to party, but you’re wearing your clothes? _Why?!_ ”

“Jake - the warp, it’s coming apart. I don’t know how long it will hold.”

He rolled his lovely eyes at my announcement. “Is that all? What do you think is holding it in place, huh?” He gestured towards the orgy. “And if you want to help, then you should go find Danny and wear **him** out this time!”

“But listen -”

“No! I have work to do here. Either walk out or aid the working, your choice!”

He turned away from me and was instantly surrounded again by eager bodies. I felt hands on me and my head swam with the sudden surge in _kundalini_. I flailed, pushing them off, fighting my way to the exit. Once out in the hall, leaning against the door, I began hyperventilating. I beat my fists against it, screaming behind my teeth, terrified and frustrated and -

_There’s nothing you can do, you have to leave. **Now.**_

I stood there panting, calling upon all of my meditation training and practice to calm down. At least to breathe without feeling like I was going to pass out any moment. I had a momentary vision of everyone on the premises willing the magic to continue with their coupling.

_Now is the perfect time, while everyone else is fucking._

I blinked back tears and walked down the corridor, back the way I came.

_The way out is THE WAY. Get out._

That was my metaphysical key, I just wasn’t sure if it would work. But there was the front door, and the night beyond. I exited the house and kept muttering to myself as I turned right, breathing hard with the effort of willing the path to the border to present itself.

_Wide is the world, and cold. Get out._

I saw a bright flash of blue-white and moved toward it. I passed by a tree and I heard something fall out of it. I spun around, heart ratcheting up in that classic fight-or-flight reaction and was instantly frozen by what I saw.

“You can’t leave without me,” Danny reminded me.


	13. You look at me with those Brown Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We all have our weaknesses, and Savannah's is brown-eyed boys.

If only he wasn’t glowing. But he was. He was so _beautiful_. In contrast with the darkness he was the physical embodiment of a line from one of their songs... _a lantern in the night_. Glowing brighter than the flashes of the vortex which punctuated the night like lightning.

“Danny,” I gasped, holding up my hands in an _I can explain_ kind of gesture. “Listen -”

“Sam said he could smell your magic. You didn’t tell me you were magic too!”

I shrugged, feeling chagrined. “I’m **not** magic, I’m a human being who is damned. I carry a piece of Hell inside me. But I was trained as a magician, yes. It’s kind of essential for what I do, not that it’s _why_ I was trained, but _everything_ is connected - somehow, someway.”

“Then you **can** help us!”

I sagged with my back against another tree. “No, I can’t. If Sam thinks he can use me as a weapon or some bullshit like that, then he didn’t do his homework.”

“Why not?” Danny looked like I had just told him he couldn’t have a puppy.

“What did I just say?” I snapped. It hurt me to be mean to him but I was beyond frustrated that they were all so goddamn stubborn. “I have a piece of Hell in me, like a splinter in my soul. I take one step into the Summerlands, it will be considered as an act of war. Mab will unleash the Wild Hunt upon your army and maybe the Orb of Love will protect you, maybe not. If not, you’ll be slaughtered. My presence would only make things worse. I wouldn’t be surprised if I burst into flames just crossing the border. I am **damned** , there is no place for me in the enchanted world.”

His face changed, he looked stricken. “But you’re _here_.”

I sighed. I wanted to touch him but I thought if I did, then it would be all over for me. I’d lose whatever momentum I'd summoned in saving myself.

“Yeah I know, and I still don’t know how it’s possible except that your boyfriend’s got some serious mojo. But I’m dead serious about Faery, _I cannot go there_.”

“But, I need you. You’re the only one who _sees_ me.”

Danny sounded so sad. And it wasn’t fair. I slid down to the ground, but held my hands out again as a warning for him to keep his distance.

“Listen, if y’all survive this gambit, or whatever, you and Sam need to have a serious talk about your relationship. Remind him that the _pan_ in pansexual means all \- so if he gets to love everybody, so do you. In the physical sense, that is. You’re not his pet, you’re a person who deserves love and respect.”

“He’s just -”

“The jealous type, yeah I get it. I totally get it because if you were mine, I think I’d lose my mind too and want to lock you up in a tower. And he’s a goddamn supermodel, so you could not possibly do better in this world or any other. But even perfect people have to solve their imperfect problems.”

_Goddamn, who the fuck was I all of a sudden?_

“You haven’t seen who he really is. He’s so loving.”

I tried to reconcile that idea with the snarky, sassy, scheming creature I had seen and tried not to snicker.

“I’ve no doubt he loves you above all things, Danny. But he needs to take you out of that bubble. For real.”

“I don’t want to go without you.”

I leaned forward, tried my best brave smile. “I don’t know how long it’s been since I came, but think of all the years before that. You’ll be okay, if Sam’s device works the way he thinks it will. I think he’d do anything in Heaven, Hell, and Elsewhere to keep you safe.”

Danny shook his head. “You don’t get it, I’ve been watching you for a long time. He told me to, when Josh saw you in the puddle. Joshie said: ‘She’s the sign that means it’s time to go Home,’ and Sam said to watch you, to meet you when you came, to keep you safe. So now, if I can’t protect you -”

“Danny, that’s not your actual job. You make music, and you make love, and you have an army who gives that love right back to you. Your own little utopia. That’s why you’re here. And it’s very important.”

He remained silent, blinking slow, and I hoped I was getting through to him. But something echoed within my own mind.

_(she’s the sign)_

I swallowed, took a breath like when you have to do the very last thing you don't actually want to do.

“Listen to me, Daniel.”

He looked up, his eyes widening. Those big soulful eyes, which made me think of a (somewhat) old song…

_You look at me with those brown eyes_  
_what do you want to do?_  
_Do you have to have me_  
_the way that I want you, I want you._

“The warp is coming apart. And everybody is trying to keep it in place, right? Everyone is fucking right now -”

He let out a breathy gasp, those onyx butterflies fluttering against the golden sheen of his precious skin. His smile enduringly sweet and demure.

“ - but it’s me. It’s been me all along. The moment I stepped into this place, I began tearing it apart with my presence. **That** is the sign. So let me go. Go back to Sam and make love to him, what you have between the two of you is the most potent magic I can think of. I will walk out of here and you can keep it together until you’re ready to leave. But it better be _soon_ , like, tomorrow, whenever that is. Because I think it’s already too late.”

More blinking. He bit his lip and the words came slow, a sorrowful catch in his voice.

“Can I have a kiss, if you’re gonna go? Please?”

_Don’t._

But what could it hurt, one more kiss?

_Don’t._

It will hurt **you** , idiot. You can't resist him.

_Don’t._

Does he truly understand? Or does he think one kiss will change my mind.

_Don’t._

Sam gave him magic, after all. You know this, it worked on you.

_Don’t._

I crossed that small space between us and he bundled me up within his limbs and we were merged in devouring sweetness. I didn't know how well I could love anyone, being damned, but in that moment I loved him to the core of my being and wanted nothing more than to love him in whatever time I had left.

**Don’t.**

I had to break the kiss eventually, nearly breathless, and I really should listen to myself more often. Danny caught me as I swooned, my eyelids fluttering, the darkness growing darker still in my failing sight.

“Just remember that I’d never hurt you, Savannah,” was the last thing he said before my eyes closed.


	14. The March

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to say goodbye.

When I finally pried my eyes open all that honeyed golden light, full of shimmer and sparkle, the enchanted light of the Summerlands, hit my aching head like a spike. I hadn’t felt anything like this in _years_.

_Note to self: I don’t miss this bullshit one bit._

“What the fuck did you slip me?” I croaked, not knowing if Danny was nearby but the question was pertinent. “Because let me tell you: this _hurts_.”

“You need to be controlled,” Sam retorted from somewhere beyond the bed. I struggled to sit up but a wave of nausea knocked me down again.

“Ssssh,” Danny murmured, stroking my shoulder with his fingertips. “I’m sorry.”

I didn’t doubt that, even as hungover as I was from the effects of the magical mickey, I could hear the sorrow in his voice.

“Listen, I just want to walk out of here. I won’t stop you, I won’t interfere, I won’t even tell anybody out there. The trolls left it up to me anyway.”

“And who do you think told the trolls about _you_?” Josh asked. He was looking out a window, his inner light melding with the light of the day.

“Is it tomorrow?” I whispered to Danny, my last attempt at a joke. “Why?” was all I could ask, even as it didn’t particularly matter anymore.

Josh didn’t answer, looking down at this fingernails. But his brothers threw him searching glances.

“Ah...everyone was getting too comfortable, eh? Losing sight of the mission, drowning in decadence, all that jazz?” I finally said.

Jake and Sam looked stricken, insulted, and disappointed.

“I built us a _world_ , Josh. It’s not a distraction,” Sam insisted.

“It’s a beautiful world, but our home is out there,” Josh pointed at the window, “and we must claim it, for the good of our souls and of those we shepherd.”

I wiggled beneath Danny’s comforting petting and sat up even as my brain felt like it was going to ooze out of my ears.

“Josh, look. I understand - you can’t save the world, but you think you can save these people, the ones who’ve listened to you and accept your message. But there’s _too many_ of them, even if you manage to parlay successfully with Mab.”

“You’ve never been there, you don’t know how vast it really is. There is plenty of room for us. A place where there is only love and understanding, tolerance, joy.”

I shook my head. “It will throw everything out of balance; I don’t need to have walked the Realm to know that.”

I couldn’t tell if I was getting through to Jake and Sam or if they were merely still angry to discover that Josh had plotted against them as well but their expressions were skeptical now.

“We really can’t take her with us?” Danny asked Sam.

Sam looked at him, his face displaying indulgent pity. “No love, she’s right about that. The piece of Hell she’s carrying, it’s pure chaos and it’s tearing our world to shreds. The Lord of Pestilence or any of his ilk cannot cross into Faery. She’d die.”

Danny put his arms around me and his face in my hair. “But you don’t _feel_ damned,” he whispered. “You love me.”

“Sammy created a helluva fishbowl,” I cracked, even as I wanted to start crying again. “ _Anything_ is possible here, even for a doomed broad like me.”

Sam nodded his head in recognition of my compliment. _Why yes, I do very good work, thank you._

“And you,” I sputtered at him, recalling my anger. “You had better protect this boy with every ounce of magic and alchemy you have, Samuel. You don’t deserve him, but you’d better prove how much you love him.”

It was Sam’s turn to stand there with his mouth open. Jake took a step back and I thought if his brother decided to strike me down in anger then I would have deserved it. That haughty gaze examined me like I was a bug and Danny stood up, placing himself between the two of us.

“We don’t hurt people,” he reminded his best friend.

“Yeah but really though?” I rejoined mockingly.

“It’s time to go,” Josh declared, turning away from the window. “Ronnie!” he called out. “We’re leaving.”

“I’m coming,” she replied, the same disembodied voice from before.

Josh took a step forward, and then everything fell apart.

It was the woods, but the woods as they were before the arrival of the band. I could see the vortex shimmering in green and yellow ripples in the near distance. People were beginning to amass nearby and Josh stood upon a tree stump to address the crowd.

“This is why we’re here,” he intoned to his flock, speaking in what I thought of as a savior type of rhythm. “To emerge into the brave new world of peace, love and unity. Singing our song to unite us all.”

I stood up and called out to him. “You want to be brave, Joshua? Then give them a choice.”

I was surprised to see he was not annoyed with my outburst, but completely assured in his desires.

“I have given them _myself_. All of me that I can give. To partake of me is to abide with me, forever. And they **are** with me.”

He spread his hands before the crowd and they roared in agreement.

“You said you weren’t going to interfere!” Sam exclaimed.

I sat down on the ground next to Danny. “Worst camping trip _ever_ ,” I snarked.

Danny blinked several times. “You can’t camp in a house,” he said.

I laughed, definitely more hysterical than humorous.

The day was overcast, heavy with humidity, like it might rain any moment. This had the effect of making the forest appear dark and ominous.

_A forest is a hungry place._

But when they crossed the border the weather would return to Midsummer eternal, a realm of light and beauty and bounty. I pictured them all there, and I hoped they wouldn’t be slaughtered where they stood.

I put a hand on Danny’s arm. “I want you to make sure that you stay with Sam, don’t get separated when you -”

“It’s the march of our peaceful army,” he said, as if that explained _everything_.

“Right, okay. Ronnie told me Sam has a device to protect you all, and that may be true, but don’t let go of him - just in case. If all you can save is just the family, then so be it. And you **are** one of them.”

“You talked to Ronnie? Wow, she was, like, a hermit.”

I smiled. “She’ll probably still be that way, over there. Find herself a nice secluded pond to inhabit or something.”

People began singing, and it was that kind of singing which sounds fine _en masse_ , no one voice rendered too sour or discordant. It was the song from the end of the performance, and we had all sung along - even me. A simple refrain: easy to learn, easy to remember.

“Danny do you even remember home? Your family, your friends?”

He shrugged, swiping his hair back from his face, humming a bit of the chorus.

“Not really? I mean, I know I have a family somewhere, but I can’t see them in my mind anymore.”

“It’s just - well, I thought I might go find them, since I’m here. Tell them not to worry about you but you didn’t disappear. Did you leave them a note or anything?”

I tensed, concentrating on trying to pull the memory from him, let it rise to the surface of his thoughts. In a moment he looked confused, like he **did** remember something.

“My dad and me, we had a fight. I said I was going to join the band instead of going to college and he lost it. I remember I - I yelled at him and - then I walked out and I got to the end of the driveway and thought, ‘Well now what?’ and then - they drove up in an old car. Sam rolled down the window and said, ‘Are you ready now?’ and I said, ‘Definitely.'”

_Get in loser, we’re going to build a magical sphere inside a vortex and invade Faery because my big brother said so._

“I’m sorry that was the way you had to say goodbye. In anger.”

Danny nodded, looking solemn. “I wish you could tell them I’m sorry too.”

The song grew louder, all those voices joined as one. Lines were forming, people holding hands. We heard Sam yell “Daniel!” above the crowd.

We stood up, I turned my face to his one last time. The kiss was passionate but brief, like the sweetness was already a memory long past.

“Travel well, Daniel, and try to remember that I loved you. Reside in love and music and ecstasy, realized in all things. I witnessed the bliss you feel when you play, and I felt the love you have for those you are bound to. May it endure forever.”

“You won’t forget me, will you?”

“ _None_ of you, ever, but especially not you.”

“I love you. C'mon, let’s sing it together, one more time.”

_And every glow in the twilight knows_  
_that the world is only what the world is made of._  
_Just you and me can agree to disagree_  
_that the world is only what the world is made of._

I could understand how it was an incantation, cast by hundreds, by the power of their belief, channeled and magnified by the infinite recursion of the enactment of Josh and Jake’s Will. If they made it across the border, they would also remake that world to fit them, united in their love and magic. They sang it into being, this ideal of a world embodied by peace, love, and unity. They created it, they inhabited the concept just like the warp which Sam had built.

I stood back and watched this army begin their determined march, watched Danny run up to where his bandmates waited, stooping down to let Sam climb onto his back. Josh turned and waved farewell, and I heard his voice in my mind. _Thank you for playing your part._ I bit my fist against tears but they came anyway. Josh and Jake and Ronnie and Sam joined hands, singing; their siren song swelled and it filled the mundane, the power of it toppled me over, it swept across the landscape in a churning wave. Just before I lost consciousness I saw the border opened, the vortex giving way beneath the magic they employed. I glimpsed the golden light, felt the warm sweet air upon my face, witnessed them united in their anthem, swinging their hands, moving ever forward in a stately progression.

But I also saw a dark shadow in the far distance, filling the horizon of that hallowed place they were entering.

 _Let them live_ , I prayed to all gods, any God. To Mab - a useless plea from a damned wretch, but it came reflexive as any entreaty. _Please, let them live._


	15. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever received a package you didn't want to open?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thanks to all who've read and especially all who've taken the time and effort to leave kudos and comments, I am so grateful! I realized at some point this story bears some similarities to my Queen story "Tread Lightly" which is also about fairies, so I guess my brain just wants certain things to be a certain way, no matter what universe.

_(six months later)_

A package arrived today, no return address but a Michigan postmark. I’m afraid to open it.

Bearing the Mark, I’ve learned to how to judiciously apply caution to a situation, and sometimes even fear. Not necessarily fear for my own safety, but for the harm which may befall others. That’s the one good thing I can say about being Hell’s Tithe - it’s made me so much more empathetic as a human being and as a magician.

And that is the fear I have in me, now. Whatever is in there, it’s going to _hurt me_.

The rain revived me when it finally arrived. I wasn’t drenched but it fell steadily and was such a relief after the oppressive humidity, The patch of forest I found myself in looked like it had been steamrolled: trees and bushes uprooted, furrows in the ground, rocks unearthed. I could barely make out the energy of the vortex, flashing now and again, but much weaker than before. I slowly stood up once I knew I could, brushing dirt and leaves from my clothes and hair.

The silence was what got to me. It was completely silent save the rain. I could hear the siren song within me, very faint. But not necessarily as an actual song, more an echo of a sound I’d heard long ago.

_...and no birds sing._

I used my pendulum to help find my way back to the car, as I had no idea if the part of the forest where the warp fell apart was the same as where I came into it. I walked for a good while, taking care to examine my surroundings for clues as to how much time had elapsed. All I saw were signs of summer...but _when_?

I couldn’t be sure that I hadn’t lost time, given the proclivities of the warp. But I felt like I was still in it, somehow, lost - perhaps in the same way Gretchen had felt lost. But I could see the car in my mind so I knew I was headed in the right direction. By the time I reached it, the late-afternoon sun bathed my surroundings in that delicious marmalade light, syrupy orange-gold fire. I took a deep breath and made myself remember the smell of the Yoop as I was experiencing it in this moment...woods, earth, flowers, plants, rain, air. And I tried to remember how Danny smelled. Sweet, I knew, but...the specific source was lost to me. An icy trickle of fear, to consider that I might have to break my word to him - through no fault of my own - even as I wanted to recall him in exact detail and crystal clarity for all time.

The car wouldn’t start, and I began to suspect it had been sitting there a while. I could have gone off to look for a puddle but instead I drank some water and changed my clothes, stretching out on the backseat to sleep soundly until daylight woke me. Then I followed the rutted track back to the highway and hitched a ride to Allouez. I was nearly faint from hunger when I got there, buying a Cold-Cut Deluxe at the general store and finishing it in about five minutes, also making my way through a big bag of Better Made sour cream and onion chips. It wasn’t Zapp’s but it would have to do. I wanted a beer and a shot but I settled for a Coke. It was the same guy behind the counter, I realized I’d seen him on every occasion. He was pretty nondescript, sandy blond hair and blue eyes, about 5’9 or thereabouts, a burgeoning belly but still in fairly good shape for a man who looked to be in his late 20s/early 30s. He had a kind trusting look about him.

“Is this your place?” I asked when I came back inside after finishing my sandwich.

“Not mine specifically, but I run it for my family,” he replied.

“All by yourself?” 

“I have help in the summer, just not today. There was a weird thing yesterday, people left in droves.”

 _Yesterday_. Well at least that meant linear time in the mundane was tick-tick-ticking away as it should be.

“Oh yeah? In the vortex?”

He grinned. “That’s where the weird stuff happens.”

“Is there a garage nearby? I need a jump.”

“Where’s your car?”

“On one of the side roads just outside of town.”

He stared at me for a moment and I knew he knew, and he was trying to figure out how to ask.

“You didn’t go with ‘em?” he finally said, framed as a casual inquiry.

“Nope.”

“Lemme make a call, I can get Chet out here with the wrecker but it may take a while, dependin’ on where he is. Services the whole peninsula.”

“I appreciate it; I’m in no rush, obviously.”

He nodded, taking his cell phone from his pocket. I turned to go out to the restrooms and he called after me.

“Thought you were s’posed ta, s’why I asked.”

“Did Danny tell you that?”

“Yeah. He came in every day for _months_ , I was beginnin’ to think the boy was touched. Nice kid, and I could always count on him for heavy liftin’ and such but I said, ‘You just know that some girl you don’t even know is comin’ here to see you?’ and he would smile and say he did. And then damn if you didn’t.”

I laughed, like I’d forgotten I knew how to, and then I belched loudly. I giggled, feeling myself veer towards that dangerous edge of breakdown for a second. “That’s about the size of it,” I replied.

I walked over to the puddle beneath the water pump, it had dried up a bit, muddy around the edges. I looked at myself and I could tell I was older, but in some way other than the passage of time. I don’t think I can explain it, but I wasn’t the same. Someone else was looking up at me from that echoic surface. I knew her like you might know someone you see regularly, but I also knew I wouldn’t be able to shake the _Who is that?_ kind of reaction when I looked in a _true_ mirror from now on.

While I waited for the tow truck I bought a cup of coffee and scryed Sebastian. I wished I could sit in the car, but if all the tourists had cleared out yesterday I really didn’t have anything to worry about. Wherever he was he had company, a good-looking guy who stared down into his cup with wide-eyed surprise. Sebastian gently turned his face away and the guy froze in place.

“Cuuuuuute,” I teased and my partner smirked.

“He makes a tasty brunch. So I take it you had some part in whatever happened yesterday?”

“Ye Gods, is it all over the Internet?”

“Naturally.”

“How long since we last talked?” I asked.

Sebastian eyed his heavy expensive wristwatch. “Thirty-three days and eight hours, give or take.”

“And since I came up here?”

“Two months, I think? It was at least two weeks between the time Anthony said you wanted me to contact you and then actually getting through.”

I sighed, a little shocked. At least I hadn’t lost an amount of time which would have really thrown me off, temporally-speaking.

“How long did you _think_ it was?” he asked.

“It only felt like a few days, but I was always considering that it might have been years. I feel...off, somehow.”

“Of course you do. You have to adjust to being back in the world now. You’ve never even been in a magical realm before.”

“No, not really. Not since the Pearl, anyway.”

“Eh, an infernal realm is different from what you were describing. Are you okay?”

I put my head in my hands and let out another sigh. “No.”

“D’ya want me to come get you? I hate coming through the portals, always all kinds of nasties waiting there, but I will if you need me.”

My voice felt like it had shrunk and I could barely form the words. “Yes please. I don’t think I can drive all that way by myself.”

“Stay where you are, I’ll find you.”

“Tow truck’s coming to give me a jump, I have to take him to where I left the car. But I’ll come back here and wait for you. Enjoy your meal, Bast.”

He laughed wickedly and waved a hand over his cup, breaking the connection.

I had to drive around for a while after I got the jump so that the battery could charge up again, and I decided to go as far as I could, where the road ended and the lake began at the very end of the peninsula.

I lived near water so I could appreciate the grand expanse of Lake Superior although I wasn’t stunned by the sight. But I felt myself unwinding - for lack of a better term - to stare out at all that blue, allowing its’ energy to flow over me. Again, I was trying to remember everything I could about the Upper Peninsula, because I figured I was never coming back. I thought about how it might have shaped Danny, living in a rural area, perhaps, finding succor and solace in the woods and bodies of water which could be found throughout the state. Easy access to nature often fosters a reverent attitude, and I could sense that in their music. When I listened to it now, I would always picture this place. Wild, green, vast...tranquil but also mysterious.

I remembered the way to Pasty Central and picked up a dozen for the road - the girl behind the counter had forgotten me (if I ever made an impression on her in the first place) and that was fine. I drove back to Allouez, stocking up on snacks and beverages and sliding into the passengers’ seat to wait. I had dozed off when I heard the driver’s side door open.

“Hey,” I greeted Sebastian, my voice slurred with sleep.

He leaned in and examined me for a long moment.

“Out of the car, girl, we’re not going anywhere till I’ve smudged you.”

“It’s still on me, really? I would have thought it dissipated when the warp fell apart.”

“You _reek_ of pixie dust, it’s like you’re radioactive.”

“Dude, it was _everywhere_. From pixies both living and dead.”

Sebastian shook his head. “Forces below, I can _feel_ it now!”

“Should we just get another car?”

He moved back suddenly, shaking himself like a dog. He took a smudging stick out of a pocket of the blazer he always wore and waved it in the air. The end of the sage bundle ignited and smoke swirled around him.

“C’mon, get over here.”

I stood there, feeling exhausted, while he smudged me, chanting various purification recitations. The exhaustion remained, but that feeling of being only half in the world began to recede somewhat.

“We’ll have to stop somewhere so you can cleanse too.”

“We can check around at the local resorts. Hopefully at least one of them offers a bathtub.”

“I could tell because I couldn’t smell it.”

I blinked at him several times before my brain engaged. “The brimstone, you mean?”

“Yeah. You can smell _me_ , right?”

“Always.” Bast’s scent was arousing to me (to _anyone_ , in truth) but I had learned to ignore it, mostly. I _had_ to, he was off-limits for me. Though it also provided a sort of psychological comfort: a heavy musky unwashed male kind of scent, but not necessarily bad B.O. - I referred to it as the natural scent of demon - with layers of strong black coffee, the smoke of Dunhill Reds, a ritual oil blend in which the most prevalent note was a dark amber...and just a whiff of brimstone.

“I couldn’t smell you, or at least, not how I _usually_ smell you.”

“What **do** I smell like, then?”

He wrinkled his nose. “It’s sweet, whatever it is.”

“Yep, something I’m _definitely_ not.”

“Oh you say that, but I’ve caught you being kind.” Sebastian then turned pale beneath his olive-tinged complexion and turned away to vomit onto the dirt of the parking lot.

“Am I making you sick? I didn’t even think of that.”

“S’alright, I’ve felt worse," he replied, wiping at his mouth. "Once you’re smudged I should be able to stand you.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and after a few more passes with the sage I suggested we get underway. We drove up to Copper Harbor and found a luxurious resort with an old-fashioned clawfoot bathtub in the deluxe suite. I sat naked in crystal-studded water, then salt water, then crystal water again, for six hours, while chanting the most basic purification ritual I knew and burning a bundle of rosemary.

_Water drown_  
_water recede_  
_water cleanse_  
_water release._  
_Purification purification purification._  
_With the water I am cleansed_  
_by the water I am scoured_  
_in the water I am judged, and found wanting_  
_in the water I am a penitent seeking balance._  
_Purification purification purification._

I took a shower after that, just your run-of-the-mill human shower. I wiped the stream from the mirror as I towel-dried my hair, and I was _old_. Not old in years - but something about the experience had aged me, and caught up to the mundane. I wondered if entering the Summerlands would have the opposite effect on the invading army - everyone finding themselves a little younger than they had been on the other side.

It felt good to be clean, at least.

We stopped in Detroit for a few days because Bast had some ghosts to talk to, and I spent a day at the State vital statistics office looking through public records. I found the address of Danny’s parents and composed a long letter that night, trying to find my way to telling them that although I knew they would forever worry about their son, he was in loving hands which would hopefully protect him, and he was following his bliss.

I believed this in an abstract way, I suppose, and it was the very essence of magical thinking to believe that everything was okay when I knew no such thing. But the desire to believe was greater than whatever common sense I possessed.

I asked Bast to take his time as he drove, and I started out the window at the landscape: cities and forests, squalor and stunning vistas.

“What do you think happened to them?” I asked him after a few hours.

“Well...Mab does favor audacity, so evidence of reckless romanticism might have stayed her hand.”

“But for whom? Only Joshua?”

“Oh yes, the twin thing. I imagine she couldn’t strike them down even if she were to try. The family at least, one imagines.”

“I was thinking that too. I hate the thought of all those people becoming an _offering_ , but -”

“P’haps the supermodel-y one -”

“Sam.”

“Maybe he could fix up another bubble for them all. Hide them away, and they’d be nothing to complain about.”

I shrugged. “He was, like, the Stephen Hawking of pocket universes.”

“Past tense?” Sebastian asked, giving me a sideways squint.

“Damn it,” I muttered. “I fucking hope **not**.”

_You don’t know me, but I met your son not long ago. I saw his band, they are amazing musicians and everyone who hears their music is enchanted by it._  
(Not **literally** , no, you can’t say that.)  
(Well duh!)  
_We talked over several days, and he suggested to me that when he left home it wasn’t under the best of circumstances. He regrets that, and wants you to know he’s sorry for how it happened. But he is happy doing what he truly desires. His musicianship is quite astounding. He’s in a relationship and is deeply in love. I tell you this because I imagine you worry about him and wonder where he is. But you don’t have to, he’s fine._  
(Why are you lying to them?)  
(I don’t know - it **could** be the truth.)  
(You don’t know that it is.)  
(But I don’t know that it’s **not**.)  
_He loves you, and he misses you, but it is likely that you will never see him again. I want to commend you for raising a son so caring and well-mannered._  
(You can’t do this - it’s not going to make them feel better!)  
(Isn’t something better than nothing?)  
(Not always.)  
(Fuck it.)

I mailed the letter, and Bast glamoured it so whatever tests might be run on it (if the Wagners decided to involve the police), they couldn’t trace it back to me. It did feel like too little, too late, but my annoying conscience would not shut up otherwise.

On the following day after leaving Copper Harbor, I had Sebastian drive us out to that spot in the forest where I had been left behind when they had crossed the border into the Summerlands. I buried my necklace there. I asked him to leave me alone for a while and he stretched himself out on the wide hood of the car, smoking and watching the clouds move across the sky.

I put my hands upon the mound of earth and focused on him in my mind, attempting to ascertain if I could find any trace of Danny on the astral. I figured the bit of my blood on the pendant interacting with this still magically-charged space would be enough to guide me.

 _I’m sorry we didn’t talk more...about everything. About music and why you love it so. About your feelings for Sam, to help me understand. About what it was like to grow together as a band, and the magic you create with your songs and the way you perform them. I’m sorry I didn’t make you feel as desired as you should, after so long of being invisible to others. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I loved you as much as you deserved. If there’s any chance you can tell me that you’re okay, please, I’m begging you. **Please** find a way to let me know._

I sat there for hours, focusing on the pulse I could recall, allowing my subtle body to roam as it would, seeking any trace of him, or them, but there was only silence. I could recall the siren’s song but I could not _hear it_ now.

“Anything?” Bast asked when I finally stood up and walked over to the car.

I shook my head. “They’re definitely gone,” I replied. “But _where_?”

Once we returned to New Orleans, to my shotgun cottage, and my cat, and my sentient bean-bag rabbit, my neighborhood and everyone I knew, I sank into a fairly severe depression. I figured it was the dregs of whatever addiction I had developed while in the warp. I **do** have an addictive personality, which is what ultimately led me to being marked as Hell’s Tithe. Moreover I was waiting for an entity of the Pit to appear at any moment, in flames or in blood or some other terrifying vision, to drag me down for an inquisition by the Lord of Pestilence.

But it never happened.

Maybe they didn’t know, didn’t notice. Maybe they did and didn’t care. Maybe they thought what I was going through right now was punishment enough, the world so gray and my thoughts continually filled with Danny. Most days I laid on the couch, lost in my regret and my memories. I felt like I had a low-grade flu: sinuses draining, wracked with chills, joints aching. A couple nights I thought I wanted to die, it was like I was feeling that crushing loneliness which I imagined Danny had experienced until he was told that I was coming, and it would be up to him to protect me once I got there.

I cried at that realization: full-on ugly crying, sobs torn from my throat, my body heaving to purge myself of the knowledge. 

Fuck them for what they had done to him - Josh’s machinations, Sam’s needless jealousy, my ignorance of the situation even as I thought it was my job. But most of all, that I couldn’t just love him _enough_ in the moment. Give him what he needed, and fuck whatever else was happening. I was damned, but my soul bounced against the notion that I was worthless too. I’d never really known what it was to love, the Mark having come down on me so young. And I feared attachments, because how could I possibly explain it? 

But Danny understood. And he loved me, however fleeting.

Sebastian wouldn’t allow me to remain in that mood. We didn’t _have_ to work (one of the perks of living with a demon - money was never a problem), but he would make me bathe and dress and go outside and eat various specialties of our native cuisine. Bit by bit a sense of normalcy began to seep back into my psyche. During this time we wouldn’t talk, or rather, he would talk and I wouldn’t. But one day as we sat in Domilise's and I picked at the roast beef po’boy in front of me while Bast was devouring his second Surf & Turf special, he looked over at me, a dab of mayonnaise on his lower lip, and said - apropos of nothing -

“You know who you need to talk to.”

I **did** know, but it was a ridiculous notion. And because all I know is how to be a know-it-all smartass, I had to inform him how wrong he was.

“Poms is furious with me, no doubt, if he knows anything about what happened. Especially if it’s been revealed that I was just a patsy in the whole thing. Besides which, he doesn’t want to do anything to call Mab’s attention, or anyone else in the Court for that matter.”

“Savvy, you can’t go on like this, and the reason you’re so depressed is because you want to know what happened to that human.”

“His _name_ is Danny!”

“Okay okay - you want to know what happened to _Danny_. I don’t see the harm in just asking. If he says no, then at least you tried.”

I sighed. I took an actual bite of my sandwich and of course it was delicious. But there was still a taste of the gray of the mundane. In my dreams I ate space jello with Danny and he played beautiful songs for me I’d never heard before and our bodies tangled together in new and interesting ways. **That** was the reality I clung to, even as it was never quite real at all.

More importantly, it was _gone_. And I had to find my way back to my own life.

The first time I came to the shop, Poms slammed the door in my face.

“Okay I deserved that,” I called out. “But I’ll be back.”

I gave it a week. The second time, he stood in the doorway and glared at me. We stood like that for several minutes.

“Your ire is duly noted,” I finally said. “But are we actually going to _talk_?”

“I dunno,” he answered in a low voice. “You’ve done some incredibly numpty things in your time, but -”

“I KNOW!” I exclaimed, throwing my hands up. “I really really don’t need you to tell me how stupid I am. I just want an answer to a specific question and then I will take my dumbass self away and you won’t ever have to talk to me again.”

“Oh now you’re just being melodramatic,” Poms quipped with a smirk. He held the door open and I stood there, looking suspicious. “C’mon then, I’ll put the kettle on.”

I told him the whole story to the best of my recollection, and Poms stopped me at several points to address the rumors he had heard in the aftermath of _the incursion_ , as all spectators were referring to it.

“Anyone on this side of the veil who says they know anythin’ is sellin’ pork pies!”

“Is there anyone I can contact who might know?”

“What exactly do you want to know?”

“I want to know if Mab spared their lives. The band.”

“And that’s all?”

“I know I can’t expect any more that that. I just -”

I drank my tea, fearful I might start crying again. I had only just reached a point of **not** crying several times a day.

“It’s that human, innit?”

I nodded. “He’s all I can think about.”

At one point in our lives Poms and I had shared an obsession, so I knew I had his sympathies on that score.

“I’ll see what I can do, but no promises.”

“Of course. And I’ll pay for the inquiry however I must.”

He looked at me, his expression searching and empathetic. “You look like hell, Sav, so I reckon you’ve paid whatever was due. If anythin’ you should let those trolls have what-for.”

“Trolls will do _anything_ for money, you know that. I’m not holding a grudge.”

Poms shook his head. I still found him incredibly attractive, even as **that** particular ship had sailed long long ago. His earrings glinted in the mood lighting of his shop: candles and oil lamps. It reminded me that Danny had both his ears pierced as well.

 _I could have given him my earrings._ They were silver, and would have helped him in the Realm to be more intuitive and creative. _I should have given him something to remember me by._

“For what it’s worth, my girl, I’m sorry.”

I smiled, and it hurt. But I could do it. “Me too,” I said.

_Time._

People who return from under the hill rarely survive so well in the mundane. Everything hurts under the weight of Time. Every day felt like walking through a bog of quicksand. And I knew how it could be, I’d heard and read so many accounts about the toll it takes on a human. My fear had been thoroughly justified.

(Just think about if you’d been completely enthralled. You might be dead right now.)  
(I feel dead anyway, what’s the difference?)  
(You knew better. You knew he wasn’t for you.)  
(Leave me the fuck alone already!)  
(You need to stop this, you have a purpose on this earth and you need to get back to it.)  
(But why? When I always screw something up?!)  
(Stop the self-pity, tithe!)  
(Fuck it.)

Three months later a pixie flew in through the mailslot, just narrowly avoiding being eaten by my cat, Tastrophe. I heard indignant squeaking at the other end of the hallway and ran up from the kitchen.

“Tas, stop! Eating a pixie will make you puke!”

The pixie flew up to my eye level and chattered, a sound of bells and birds.

“Wait, wait, slow your roll,” I protested. Another squeak of impatience and then the recitation at half-speed.

“My message has been delivered? What message?”

More chattering.

“I haven’t -” Then I stopped, my mouth hanging open. The pixie fluttered close and shut it for me. “Ohhhhhhh. But what does that mean, exactly?”

I received an answer which basically translated to _All I know is all I have told._

I offered it a slice of Hummingbird cake in thanks, and after a few tiny bites it flew out my back door trailing a shimmering thread of dust in the air. I took care to step back and put a hand over my nose and mouth. No sense in backsliding, even just the slightest. I threw the rest of the cake in the trash, which pained me because I hate to waste food. Even so I must have inhaled a bit because that night I had the most intensely erotic dream of Danny since my return. I woke soaked in sweat, my pelvis aching. It had felt _so real_. I cried again to recall my head on his chest, my fingertips stroking his luscious skin, his capable hands roaming over my body. I rocked myself to sleep and I had never felt so alone.

When the mailman delivered the package, it occurred to me that I didn’t know him. He wasn’t my regular guy, nor the sub I was used to. But he wore the uniform, the shorts and pith helmet familiar to all of us in residing in this subtropical clime.

But then when I went to sign his clipboard he asked for my sigil. _Okay then._

“Y’all infiltratin’ the Feds now? How’s that for progress!” I chided.

“You best watch yer mouth, hellspawn,” he replied mildly as he walked back to the mail truck.

“Ouch,” I whispered as I shut the door. When I saw the postmark on the package I let it fall from my hands onto the console table in the hallway. It had belonged to my mother and was a fanciful thing of curlicues and scallops but also solid oak construction.

And there it sat for a week before I could bring myself to look at it again.

“I don’t understand,” Sebastian said as we sat in my kitchen and stared at it on the table between us. “You _said_ you wanted to know.”

“I do, but the knowing isn’t going to change anything. He’s lost to me either way.”

“I imagine there’s at least one fairy risked their hide for this so don’t be ungrateful, Savvy.”

“I’m not. I’m _terrified_.”

“Can’t be killed, but is likely to expire anyway from a broken heart.”

“Fuck you, Flambe.”

“Hey! I’m on your side, y’know.”

“Then open the goddamn thing so we can get this over with.”

Sebastian held out a hand toward the package and we could see the air shimmer between.

“That’s a nope, Savvy. Whatever it is, it’s been charmed to be claimed by you and you alone.”

I sighed, pushing my hair back from my face. “Fuck!”

“C’mon now. If it makes you sad I promise I will be here for you. We’ll watch something stupid on TV and eat some of that ghastly Creole Cream Cheese ice cream you love so much.”

“I told you not to blaspheme like that, Goat Boy.”

Bast grinned. Ye Gods it was gorgeous. A very wicked grin, though, and I thought about Danny’s smile, how it was sheer joy at life itself.

I cut open one end of the padded envelope and very carefully removed the contents. 

A CD in a plastic sleeve. _Greta Van Fleet_ had been inscribed with a black Sharpie. Below the band name was written _The Last Revel_.

“Oh my fucking god this is my show!” I cried out.

“When you saw them play, you mean?”

“Yeah. A recording of my show, wow. I wonder if I should seed this online.”

The other item fell into my hand with a rattle. I stared at it for moments untold, watching the stone flare bright green. Still must be some pixie dust laying around. I held it up so Sebastian could see.

“Wait, isn’t that your -”

“Yep.”

I was suddenly overtaken by a vision of Danny unearthing my necklace from the spot I had placed it. Kissing the stone and handing it to a troll. As the creature departed along the track, I could see Sam and Danny standing in the clearing, watching the sun go down. As night came on, they turned and retreated back into the grove. They held hands as they walked. One moment their bodies were moving among the trees, the next they had disappeared into the thick shadows.  


They were each as beautiful as I remembered. I was elated but also mourned what was lost even as I had known it for mere moments as fragile as crystal. Their music would allow me to relive it _and_ live with it, eventually. To be glad of it even as I was hollow with the knowledge that we would never know its’ like again. Their music...the sound of their longing and dreaming and suffused with all the wild passion they could manifest.

How blessed I was to know it.

“He’s alive,” I whispered. “And he abides in the Eternal now.”

r/GretaVanFleet Posted by u/SororPomegranate  
Peaceful Army footsoldier 3 days ago  
**Been missing Greta? Check it out.**

_I know there’s been a lot of talk about what the fuck happened to the band, where did they go and I can’t tell you where they are. I’m not trying to be all tin-hatty or anything, but I seeded a recording of a show from earlier this year in all the usual places. Dudes were **killing it** like maybe they knew? The perfect ending to a new beginning. Listen, share, please don’t sell, it was created from love by love for love. Peace, love and unity - it matters now more than ever. Music is forever and so are their precious souls._

flowerchilde  
7 points·2 days ago  
It was in the forest, wasn’t it? That weird shit in the vortex.  
loverleaver  
taker believer 15 points·2 days ago  
Is it really true? The vortex ate them or some shit?

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**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Little Kicks](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20535419) by [ArtemisaRye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisaRye/pseuds/ArtemisaRye)




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